Pokemon: Quiet Passions and Rampant Dreams
by etherphobos
Summary: Ash has finally returned to his home after his time on Alola. He is soon joined by his dear friends Serena and Lillie, and together they head out for their next adventure on a new region. They will be joined by known characters as well as OCs, all of them involved in an adventure of their own.
1. Departure Time Part 1

Persistence was essential for him to survive. Ash Ketchum knew this, and yet, he loved to take risks and to test his ability to continue breathing whenever he could. Back on his home region of Kanto, having just returned from his rich and fruitful journey on the Alola region, the experienced yet youth-exuding trainer wasted no time to embark on his next adventure. This time, it had taken the form of Mt. Hideaway, the highest mountain in the Kanto region, peculiarly located near his place of birth on Pallet Town. And to consider his quick adventure successfully completed, the top of the giant rock collection must be reached, with only his most trusted companion and best friend, Pikachu, by his side.

But at the halfway-point between the then deadly ground and the mountain's peak, with his body hanging completely vertical from a merciless cliff face, while drops of sweat fell from his forehead all the way to the ground, currently located at a distance below which would cause any other less prepared individual to crumble in fear, and be overcome with crippling nausea, Ash reflected it may not have been the best idea to start climbing with only his trustworthy bag of chalk tied to his waist, although he had to admit said simple bag had already served him perfectly well on many past climbing endeavors.

Pikachu, also carrying a back of chalk, albeit one smaller than his trainer's, was in a similar situation, and although his significantly smaller body, better equipped to handle nature at its most dangerous expressions, made it easier for him to swagger through the rocks, a fall would likewise signify the end of his life.

Their naked hands bathed in white powder constituted the only tools they could cling to their lives with, and yet neither of them could ever regret taking such a risk, as valuable experiences such as the one they were currently embroiled in, were the reason behind their existence. At no point did Ash or Pikachu ever feared death, as they were absolutely certain they'd come out successful, fulfilled, hopefully in one piece that could be carried to safety by them, one another, or someone else, and afterwards they'd be ready for their next adventure. Another reason as to why they were not worried about meeting their untimely end was that, if they were to enter a state of imminent death, one of their many friends, it really didn't matter who it was, would appear either out of nowhere, thin air, or a hole in the ground, and save them. Ash was certain of this, as such, he was never afraid, never hesitant, always eager to move in any direction, always ready to jump into action.

With his right foot barely resting on the protruding red rock below him, and his left hand hanging onto the surface above his head, he reached into the bag of chalk with his free hand and smeared the powder all over his palm and fingers, then he used his right foot to impulse himself upwards and reach for the next point. Then it was his left foot's turn. He carefully placed it on a meekly protruding area, and immediately felt the fragility of the zone, and that of his body, and felt an anxious bolt that started on the soil of his foot, rushed through his body all the way to his chest, where he felt it with the most distressing intensity, and ended in his head, right behind his forehead. His current path was not viable, and he then had no way to continue up or down. Ash looked all around and found an almost insignificant cliff to his right, with a viable path that went upwards right above it; he'd have to jump. Neither Ash nor Pikachu thought about it twice, the latter quickly jumped onto his trainer's head, and Ash softly swayed his body to the left for impulse before he jumped to his right. With his five senses running at full throttle, he managed to hang on to the rocky surface, and felt the ensuing hit subtly on his right shoulder. But he made it.

He was able to place both feet on the squalid cliff below him. He turned around and rested his back on the mostly flat rock behind him, which was tilted just enough in order for him to rest his limbs. He took a deep breath and took the scenery in, the Kanto sun in the afternoon and the rocks turned his visual field orange. It was a nice moment to take a needed pause from their adventure, unfortunately for Ash and Pikachu, it ended rather quickly. His body suddenly moved, he turned rigid and then his body moved once more, just a little bit downwards, but enough to send a disarming shiver through his spine. The rock beneath him wouldn't resist for long, and Ash would soon fall to his death along with his best friend. Before they had time to think of a way to escape their imminent fall the rocks sustaining them broke into a million pieces, and the pair fell down face first; they could see the ground many feet below them and, thinking they'd greet it with their faces at full force soon, both of them closed their eyes.

In an instant Ash's life flashed before his eyes, every battle he had won appeared on his mind in vibrant colors, whereas the battles that he had lost or drawn appeared as a darkened, shadowy blur, and all of his friends and family on the sidelines, with Pikachu and him at the center of it all, were in every mental image he half-consciously produced. Another image assaulted him suddenly, and he remembered about a time when he was a toddler: his mom lifted him off the ground and held him in her arms. She caressed his plump cheeks, and told him that he was the most handsome boy in the world, and this made plump baby Ash really happy. Then, on that same day, while he was hanging out and having fun on the playground, a rotund, cacophonous woman told him that he was an ugly child to his face, and this made tiny Ash really sad. Then he remembered the rotund woman falling into some mud later that day. In a fraction of a second Ash mused about how it was such a weird memory to remember before dying.

He grabbed Pikachu tightly in his arms and braced for the hit; he kept his eyes closed. Still, a part of him knew he couldn't die, and he thought about how it could be possible for him to think such thing, at that moment, when he was about to die. He also thought about how it was possible, very possible in fact, that he was in fact going to die. Then he thought about the possibility of already being dead, it felt like he was floating; perhaps such an instant death was painless, or perhaps the hyperbolic nature of the moment had allowed him to slow down time, almost freeze it. Ash opened his eyes and saw the ground getting dangerously closer to him; the latter supposition was true. He closed his eyes and panicked and held Pikachu firmly, it wouldn't take another second.

The wind was blowing fast, too fast. It was audible and then it became too noticeable to ignore. He heard the beating of a pair wings, then a sudden and forceful change of direction; if that was death then death felt funny and bizarre, but painless. Then he felt more sudden movements and a pair of arms and hands embracing him. Then a familiar growl, which could only be made by a fully evolved pokemon, made Ash rethink the situation, he almost could not believe it. They were safe. He finally opened his eyes expectant to discover the identity of his current guardian angel. This time it was Serena. She had an expression of sudden relief and a look that he couldn't quite discern, but she was happy. Ash and Pikachu suddenly found themselves on top of Ash's winged, dragonic charizard, accompanied by their good friend Serena, with whom they had shared many adventures in the past, during one of Ash's many long journeys, this one specifically on the Kalos region. And both of them had just saved their lives, not for the first time, certainly not for the last. With their appeased spirits regained, Charizard and Serena took the reckless pair of daredevils to the top of the mountain where they settled down with ease, although Ash in no way considered that advantageous arrival a victory, but at least he was able to ascertain that his life was no longer in danger.

"You're insane," Serena exclaimed as she gave Ash a lovingly strong tap on the shoulder.

"Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? You shouldn't have done this," she continued, bringing some sobriety to the situation.

"It's okay, I knew you'd save me," Ash replied.

"No you didn't!" Serena continued pressing with the same insistence. Any other person who saw her then would have noticed how much she fancied Ash, who loved to test her patience with reckless abandon. But not him, who was a very dense individual, who knew about the existence of the romantic kind of love, and yet he could not have been able to explain it concisely, not even if his life depended on it.

"Yes I did. Well, I knew someone would come and save me anyway, and this time it was you out of all people, even better."

"Again, you are insane, and knowing that I'll always be there to catch you when you fall shouldn't be an incentive for you to continue doing things like this."

"And yet, by saving me you have pretty much convinced me of something I've been thinking about for a long time now."

"What's that?"

"Someone will always be there to save me,"

"Well..." she couldn't refute his argument, it had happened so many times; and she certainly wouldn't stop doing it.

"What's more, sometimes I feel like the people around me are not actually living their lives but in fact just pretending to. And they fake everything they do to study my reactions and such, like I'm the only subject of an experiment or something. How come you were so close to me anyway?"

"I was looking for you."

"Were you now?"

"Yes."

"But were you really?"

"Shut up."

"I don't think I'd mind it though, if that were true. Right Pikachu?"

Pikachu nodded faintly. He was still visibly shaken from the near-death experience he had just gone through, mere moments ago.

"Have you thought about anything like that?" Ash asked.

"I have actually," Serena replied. "Sometimes I feel like I am being filmed, and that my life is actually a 24 hour reality tv show."

"Interesting."

"Somebody should do a movie about that, don't you think?"

"I do," Ash answered.


	2. Departure Time Part 2

Just as the sun was about to set, Ash and Serena decided to go back to his house on Pallet Town. They hopped on Charizard's back, and just a few thoroughly enjoyed moments in the clouds later, which Serena enjoyed much more than Ash, and wished the quick trip on the sky had been much longer, they were at his front door, by which Serena's sylveon awaited for them pleasantly resting on the ground. Ash knelt down and petted Sylveon's chin, meanwhile Serena let out a pleasant giggle. The two of them were in a good mood, which continued after they opened the door and went inside the house. However, Ash's smile was lost as soon as he noticed who was sitting at his kitchen table, enjoying a meal which had most certainly been prepared just for that person by Ash's mom, Delia. Gary Oak, raised from his seat oozing smugness, and went to encounter his younger counterpart.

"Well, well, well, look what the garbage man dragged in, no offense directed at the lovely lady, of course. What I'm saying is: Ash is trash."

"You're in my house," Ash replied.

"Indeed I am. What, aren't you going to introduce us?"

Ash caught the obvious hint and put on a more formal, albeit still reluctant air.

"Gary, this is Serena, she's an awesome and famous performer from Kalos. She's very talented and has won a lot of showcases." Serena blushed as Ash said this. "Serena, this is Gary, professor Oak's assistant and nephew. He used to be my rival when I first started my journey on Kanto, but he gave up after a while."

"Gave up? I finished it."

"If you say so. Anyway, what brings a hoodlum like you to a nice house like ours? Are you taking advantage of my mom's kindness?"

"I can't disagree with you on that last part, it is inconceivable to me how someone as nice as her is related to a miserable insect like you."

Both boys moved in front of each other without turning away for even a second, Serena sensed the atmosphere growing more tense with each step they took. The boys took a beat, then suddenly smiled, releasing the tension; they shook hands, sharply and audibly, then shared an effusive yet manly hug.

"How have you been you degenerate? You're still up to your same old tricks?"

"You know me, when adventure calls I just can't say no to it."

"I guess you wouldn't be Ash Ketchum if you did."

"I guess I wouldn't, what do you think Pikachu?" Ash turned to his best friend, who nodded filled with glee, having put his sudden nightmare on Mt. Hideaway behind him.

Somebody knocked on the door, and Delia, who suddenly appeared in the living room, went to answer it.

"Guess who it is," Gary said. "You'll be surprised."

Delia opened the door and revealed a red-headed plump boy with a wild mane, dressed in shades of green. Even though she had never seen him before, Serena had an eerie sensation; she knew there was something in him. She didn't know him and yet he looked familiar.

"Ritchie?" Ash exclaimed filled with sudden joy. "Wow! What a nice surprise! You came here for a rematch, didn't you?"

"Hey! You haven't changed one bit, have you Ash?" Ritchie replied. Then approached Ash and they shared an audible and sharp handshake, before they shared an effusive hug. Albeit theirs was a bit less manly than the one Ash shared with Gary.

"I guess I should introduce you too, Serena, this is my friend Ritchie, he started his journey at roughly the same time I did, and because of that our paths crossed a lot. We shared some adventures together long, long ago."

"Hey, it's nice to meet you," Ritchie said as he shook Serena's hand. But she remained silent, she only nodded firmly with a smile on her face; Serena took an instant liking to Ritchie.

"You've ballooned up a bit," the unfettered Ash mentioned after taking a good look at Ritchie, who had in fact gained quite a bit of weight since the last time Ash had seen him.

"Yeah," Ritchie replied. "I'd say life has been good."

Serena understood then why she felt an instant attraction to Ritchie, as he looked like a chubby, perhaps a shiny version of Ash, and she suddenly, mildly, wanted to cuddle with him.

"I'd say you're fat," Gary intervened. "Hey Serena, Ritchie was the one who defeated Ash in the indigo league," he added. And after his mocking remarks Ash directed an angry glare and a smirk at him.

"Man, those were the days weren't they? I think about them every day," Ritchie mused out loud with a fanciful inflection.

"Who defeated him on the Kalos league?" Gary continued with his messing around, which, although annoying, came from a place of love. Perhaps it was the only way he could express it.

"Well..."

Serena was having a hard time, not wanting to respond, trying to hide her annoyance, and wishing Gary would shut up, all at the same time.

"I'm just joking, I know it was Alain."

"Oh yeah?" Ash finally responded. "What have you done recently huh, Gary?"

"Hm, let me see… oh yeah, I just created a machine that allows trainers to communicate with their pokemon in their native language."

"Wow! Really?"

"Well, no. But somebody else has."

"Right, so you've done nothing," Serena blurted out, out of nowhere. And her uncharacteristically harsh take-down of Gary's lack of accomplishments turned the room awkwardly silent. Serena was visibly not bothered by this, it was obvious she didn't care about what they thought of her; Gary's playful yet insensitive treatment of Ash had made her increasingly upset.

The silence continued in the house as confused grins appeared on the faces of guests and hosts alike, and although the atmosphere was not necessarily awkward they certainly didn't know how to continue after her cutting remarks. The next sound was a firm and continuous knocking on the front door, as if whoever was outside were making up a tune as they went along with their loud knocks. This time Serena went to open it, and revealed a rotund man, with the dirty blond curls of his hair resembling a roller coaster, with pitch-black shades covering his eyes, wearing a light-blue, comfortable shirt with flower patterns covering his more-than-full belly, and cargo pants. He continued moving his fist on the air well after the door was opened. It was only after he finished his imaginary tune that he went in filled with a pleased glee, and placed himself right in front of Ash as soon as he identified him.

"Hey Scott! What brings you by?… Serena this is Scott, he..."

"There's no time for that young boy!" Scott boasted quick and loud. "You do not know how glad I am to encounter you while you're still in your mom's house. I feared you'd already bolted off to another long journey with that overflowing impatience of yours, listen, I have a proposition for you."

"Who's this man?" Ritchie innocently asked.

"What's this? Who am I?" Scott seemed offended. "Have you been under a rock?" He asked Ritchie.

"Yes actually, for a while," Ritchie answered. "Three months ago I went to the seafoam islands to find the mythic beast Articuno, so that it could help the people of Kanto put out the dangerous fire that had broken out at Viridian Forest. But I ended up falling into a crevasse while walking through the caves on the islands. During the three months I spent there the seels and dewgongs kept me and my pokemon alive by feeding us with the skin they shed, it was a pretty harrowing experience, I was rescued just last week."

"What! Ah, nonsense, I'll tell you anyway, for I'm merely the man who created the famed battle frontier, an almost sacred piece of land created only for the most experienced trainers who have achieved the highest status on their field, where many challenges and nigh-unbeatable combatants await, and, Ash, if you think that you have experienced all that there is to experience during the time you have indeed spent there…"

"I have, I already went there," Ash said.

"…Let me finish! Well, think again, for everything that you once knew is now gone, and the portrait you have in your mind of Scott's Battle Frontier is no more! New challenges, new paths, new combatants, same high-octane energy multiplied by a thousand, await for you now in the newly rebooted: Battle Frontier: Requiem!"

"Are you kidding me?" Ash shouted, making his hands into fists which he held in front of his chest; his eyes were beaming with excitement.

"I wouldn't dare to kid the great Ash Ketchum, you must come with me now and face your future."

Before Ash had time to give an answer to Scott's sudden proposition there was yet another knock on the door, and this time it was Ritchie who opened it, while Scott visibly and audibly lamented this. A couple appeared on the scene. A tall, pale boy with striking blue eyes with a hint of melancholy behind them, and shoulder length brown hair with curls covering his eyes. He was accompanied by a shorter girl with short blonde hair and a pair of green eyes tinted with a layer of sadness, which spoke of something that had happened to her in the past. Both of them wore traditional trainer's clothes of darker shades, brown leather jackets, gray jeans and black boots, accentuated by their dismal postures. They went in with what the others identified as low energy, and likewise directed towards Ash as soon as they identified him.

"Hello," the tall boy spoke. "My name is Sebastian and her name is Noelle." The girl waved her hand monotonically, and the inflection made it evident she had been hurt in the past. "We are from the Arundel region, and we have come here to meet with you, Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town, and ask you to visit our region, and perhaps participate in our magenta league. You'll be welcomed by our professor, who will grant you the tools necessary to enjoy both our regional pokemon and our land at their fullest. What do you say?"

"What the hell is going on? And why are they only asking Ash?" Gary asked, confused and exasperated.

"I'll explain," Scott replied. "Seeing as Ash has become a renowned trainer all across the globe, and he has, after many adventures on many different lands, returned to his home town where he can now be reached before he leaves again, ambassadors from less popular regions have come to poach Ash, who's considered an exceptional trainer, to convince him to travel to their regions and compete in their leagues. But don't let these ruffians fool you Ash, the revamped Battle Frontier: Requiem, is your best choice."

Then there was another knock on the door. Ritchie unabashedly answered it.

"Oh come on!" Scott cried out.

This time it was a blue haired trainer, with his hair purposefully wild, with a beauty mark on his cheek right under his right eye, wearing a white long-coat, rather tight and aerodynamic, purple jeans, also very tight, black and red sporty shoes, and an orange scarf around his neck, the tip of which reached his hips.

"Hey everyone, my name is Jake and I am looking for the one they call Ash from Pallet Town."

"He doesn't live here!" Scott cried out full of anger.

"That's me," Ash exclaimed, angering Scott even more.

"Oh great," Jake went inside nonchalantly and shook Ash's hand. "I'm here personally to cordially invite you to the region of Ruston, where you'll live out an all-new, all-different adventure filled with powerful trainers and their equally powerful pokemon, you won't regret it."

"Oh wow!" Ash exclaimed before bowing down, filled with excitement, which he then released with a shout and a jump. "Can you believe it Pikachu? Our next adventure has arrived right at our door!"

"Right and that adventure is Battle Frontier: Requiem, right?"

Both Ash and Pikachu stopped their impromptu celebration and put their hands on their chins, falling deep into a meditative state.

"What's happening?" Jake asked.

"You're not the first one to come here and ask Ash to visit your region," Sebastian intervened, while Noelle held his arm and stayed behind him, subtly glaring at Jake.

"That's right," Scott joined in. "So beat it Jack."

"It's Jake, um, excuse me, can you stop this?"

"Stop what?" Scott ironically inquired. "Interrupting your little presentation… Jake?"

"No," Jake replied, unfazed. "I mean stop asking Ash to visit your region, and then leave, maybe."

"What! No way you insolent fool."

"Come on, it's just I wanted to ask him to come to my awesome region, Ruston, where there are many cool places full of danger that make you feel alive."

"We all have regions to promote dude," Sebastian intervened.

"Come on, don't be a jerk, please, leave."

"No!"

"Wow, you suck bro."

Jake's attitude rubbed Scott the wrong way; it made him even angrier. He then went off on the guy, and the two started a loud argument in which Sebastian tried, and failed, to intervene, as he, with his earnest and gloomy demeanor, seemed incapable of achieving the same level of energy as the others.


	3. Departure Time Part 3

Meanwhile another visitor arrived, and this one not only scared everyone and made them back away from the door with his exuberant and brooding physicality, but his presence also made Scott and Jake stop their argument and put their guards up. A morbidly pale man, with a heavy sight, with a gray streak on his otherwise pitch black hair, entered Ash's house, wearing antique clothing, cape, belt and boots, and a sheathed sword on his back.

"Is this Ash Ketchum's house?" He spoke with a thick foreign accent.

"Excuse me." This time it was Delia who replied, likewise startling everyone in the room, albeit with a different kind of firm, but softer, energy. "I really don't feel comfortable with that thing on your back, so I'm going to politely ask you to leave."

"I can assure you I come in peace," the man continued. "My kingdom..."

"Yes, I understand that," Delia cut him off. "But I just don't want that weapon in my house, you can leave it outside if you want."

"Never! My sword and I are one and the same."

"Okay then your sword and you are going outside."

"But I have an urgent message for Ash Ketchum!"

"Well you're not going to tell it to him while that weapon is in my house, so bye-bye."

"The fate of my region rests on my hands!"

"I highly doubt that," Delia said as she started pushing the man towards the door. "Besides, why would you want such a burden over your lonely shoulders?"

Freshly defeated and at a loss for words, the imposing man, at least physically speaking, got out of the house out of his own volition.

"See Ash," Scott said while everyone was trying to recollect themselves from the situation. "Every buffoon has a gimmick these days, please mind him no more, nor the rest of these clowns, and come with me to… oh, come on..."

He and the rest heard the man knocking on the window, he was so tall he had to crouch down a bit for his head to be seen. But nobody seemed to care for him, no one even bothered to look at him. For the ambassadors and promoters he was nothing more than an unwanted nuisance, and the exasperated indifference and outright disdain for him could be felt in the air. It was Serena who finally took enough pity on him to go over and open up the window.

"Shame on you people," she whispered to herself as she allowed the man to be heard. However he did not speak, as he was still wary of Delia, but instead signaled Ash to come by the window with his index finger.

Delia saw him but she pretended to ignore him, as long as the sword wasn't inside her house she was fine with it, at least for the moment being. Ash proceeded to humor the man but the rest of the hopefuls, along with curious pair Ritchie and Gary, followed behind him to listen to what this man had to say.

"My name is Yvgeny of Nestan-Darejan, and I come to you asking for your help, Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town. The region where my kingdom lay is not very large, it rests at the top of the mountains down south. Our days are colored gray and white thanks to the clouds dwelling all around us at all times, covering us from the rest of the land below. Violent fights are part of our every day entertainment, we laugh and boast at the sight of pain and blood. Or at least, we used to. On the outskirts of every city malice and danger await for unsuspecting victims. And yet, life was good, our children laughed, they grew strong and became formidable opponents. That was, until it happened. The pokemon from my kingdom were afflicted with a condition we have named the blight, which turns their skin green, and although it somehow increases their strength and their ability to grow more powerful, it also puts them at risk of exploding spontaneously and without any kind of warning. And that's nothing compared to what the blight does to humans who come into contact with it… it's fatal. As such, the situation has brought famine and despair to our land."

"Oh no! That's so sad," Serena said.

"You're right," Ash seconded her.

"We also have problems in my region, Ruston," Jake intervened, hoping to take the attention away from Yvgeny. "A bunch of homeless people took over the pokemon center near my house, they're actually pretty good trainers so we have not been able to force them out."

"And that's happened on all pokemon centers?"

"No just one."

"then shut up dude that's not a problem."

"How about you Sebastian?" Serena asked the cheerless guest. "How are things in Arundel?"

"I'm not actually that well versed on the current general situation, internal struggles matter not to whom isn't the sufferer." Sebastian creepily monotoned. "And hidden wounds won't create sympathy on closed ears."

"Oh-kay."

Ash didn't listen to anything that was said after Yvgeny finished his tale. His heart, as well as pikachu's, were set; it only took them a fraction of a second.

"I need to help Yvgeny," he suddenly exclaimed.

"No way!" Delia said quickly, instantly feeling worry for her teenage son.

"But mom, he needs our help."

"That may be the case, however, it's way too dangerous Ash, and I can't allow you to go there."

"Mom, you can't stop me from doing what's right, who else is going to save them?"

"Ash," Delia went over to her son, knelt right in front of him, and put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm certain you can help them, but I'm just so worried about you."

"Who else is there? You know I have to go."

"Oh Ash, I hate it when you're right…"

Afterwards someone else knocked on the open door. It was a red-headed guy with his short straight hair styled to the side, wearing a pair of white-framed glasses in front of his pale blue eyes.

"Excuse me, sorry for interrupting," he said in a low voice; the multitude had startled him. "Is this Ash Ketchum's house?"

"Yes it is, are you here to invite him to your region?" Scott asked him. He and Jake, with Sebastian and Noelle behind them, ganged up on the newest visitor.

"Yes," the red-head answered.

"Right, what's your name?"

"Elyan."

"Name of your region."

"Gudrut."

"Awful name, okay Elyan, what's the coolest place on your region?"

"The coolest place? Probably everywhere, because it is very cold for most of the year."

"...Oh my God, anyway, what kind of pokemon can you find in Gudrun?"

"Well, do you know Unova?"

"Yes."

"Okay, well many pokemon that hail from Unova also inhabit Gudrut, and…"

"So it doesn't have all-new, all-different pokemon not found in any other region, like in Ruston? Besides, Ash has already gone to Unova so Gudrun is now less appealing to him. Great, so it's one less to worry about. At least now we know that the situation won't escalate further, after the sword guy. You did terribly Elyan, Ash will never go to Gudrut."

"So Ash, I think it's time for you to decide which region you want to travel to next," Scott finalized as Elyan lowered his head, defeated. 

"Not so fast!" Yet another couple barged in. A bespectacled boy with a wide smile on his face, his straight orange hair covered his forehead. And a girl with a vibrant pink combo of overly long side fringe and ponytail. Both of them were wearing formal clothing of different shades of brown: shoes, slacks, vest, and a darker long coat; contrasted neatly with a white shirt and red tie, all of which seemed to be part of a uniform from a very fancy school, even the coat. They came in radiating upbeat energy which clashed jarringly with the vibe inside, and as the rest of the ambassadors were already pretty tired, and upset from having their plans frustrated, the newest guests' attempts to woo the host were not very welcome.

"Oh come on! Who the hell are you guys!" Jake cried out, echoing their general vibe.

"Please don't curse in the house Jake," Delia admonished the visitor.

"Sorry!" 

Meanwhile the formal couple ignored Jake as well as the bad vibes he and the rest of them were sending them, and continued with their presentation.

"My name is Karius," the new orange-head said.

"And I am Karon," his pink-headed companion added.

"Nobody cares!" Scott interrupted, but neither Karius nor Karon let him steal their thunder, for which they had hyped themselves up before going in.

"And we are from the Domerlac region."

"Literally no one wants you here!"

"Stop!"

"And we want you, Ash Ketchum," they continued, without letting the hate erase the mechanical smiles off of their faces. "To come with us and participate in our annual league tournament."

"We are tired, nobody's listening to you."

"Okay, that's enough." Karius finally dropped his facade, and as he couldn't take it anymore, gave up to their taunts. "Please! Let me do my job. I came all the way from the Domerlac region and you all are not being very helpful, so could you please let us speak to Ash? This has nothing to do with you."

"Yes it does," Scott replied immediately and without a care in the world.

"Hey!" The chiefly annoyed Karius continued. "We didn't bother you while you were presenting your option, did we?"

"Cause you weren't here."

"You know what, screw this I don't care anymore. Come to the Domerlac region, there you will learn to use a pokemon's strength, along with your own, in a way you've never imagined, or whatever."

"That sounds awesome!" Ash exclaimed, obliviously enthusiastic.

"It is, it is very awesome," Karius replied with his eyes closed and his chin up, trying to regain his lost cool.

"And all of you want me to go to your regions?" Ash asked contemplative, having forgotten, just as easily as he thought of it, of the internal vow he had made to go to Yvgeny's region and help him out.

"Yes, we have all come from lands very far away from here, to ask you to come with us and experience all we have to offer."

"Man, I haven't felt this popular ever since all my tauros rampaged through that small town, and those news-people came to interview me," Ash said.

"Wait what?" Serena asked, suddenly startled. "When did that happen?"

"Some time ago."

"In which town?"

"It doesn't exist anymore anyway so that's not important, man… I can't decide, what do you think Pikachu?"

Pikachu slapped both of his cheeks with his tiny paws, then his trainer imitated his gesture; both of them were at a loss for words.

"…There's no way I'll be able to decide today, not with too many great choices." Ash then said with his hands still on his cheeks, "Which one do you think I should choose Serena?"

"I really don't know," Serena replied, right before everyone's eyes turned to her. She was suddenly the center of attention, and as soon as the hopeful ambassadors from far away lands, and Scott, realized she had some influence over Ash's decision, they all directed eager looks and enthusiastic gestures at her, in an effort to convince her to convince Ash to go to their region. Noelle and Sebastian too tried to shoot some friendly signals at her, but their subdued manners and low spirits made them come off as awkward, and desperate, although that seemed to work on their favor, since Serena took pity on them and favored them above the others. However, as everyone there was waiting for her to say anything, the sheer anxiousness did not let her speak. So Ash moved on.

"What about you mom?"

"Well," Delia answered. "I still think Yvgeny's region is just too dangerous for you dear. Why not go with Scott's revamped battle frontier? It's the closest one after all."

"What!" Ash exclaimed, almost jumping from the immediate anger that overtook him; he felt betrayed. "Don't tell me it's in the same location as the last one, why would I want to go to the same place twice?"

"No no." Scott waved his open hands nervously in front of his chest, he sensed how his objective was slipping away from him; he spoke with an unnaturally big smirk on his mouth. "It's revamped! I put a lot of money into it, everyone has new suits and all, I promise you'll love it."

"Nah," Ash immediately dismissed him. "I don't want to go to the same place twice, and that's that. Which region would you choose Ritchie?"

"Well..." Ritchie paused, he seemed a bit embarrassed. "The reason I'd come here in the first place was to ask you to travel through Kanto once more, with me."

"What? Forget it."

"Don't you want to relive the good old days?"

"The good old days? How old are you? What happened to you Ritchie?"

"What do you mean? Nothing happened to me I'm fine." As soon as he finished speaking, Ritchie buried his face in his hands and started weeping, like a baby.


	4. Departure Time Part 4

Nobody knew what to do, Ash touched Ritchie's shoulder. However he had no idea of how continue their interaction, let alone what to say to him; situations like that were not his forte. Serena went over to try and console Ritchie, and as soon as she touched his free shoulder he used her own shoulder to continue his little cry.

"I need someone else's opinion on this," Ash said, reincorporating from his maudlin friend. "Gary, what do you think, which region should I go to next?"

"I don't know," Gary replied scantily. "And I don't even care, I don't want to travel to any region anyway, not even if they invited me."

"Would you like to come to Domerlac?" Karius stepped in and seized the opportunity. Although he seemed decidedly less interested in Gary.

"I don't know, maybe. What are you offering?"

"An invitation dude, I mean you can come if you want to, nobody's telling you you can't, in fact nobody's even talking to you."

"Hey! Don't you know who I am?"

"Yes."

"You do?" Gary seemed genuinely surprised.

"Yes, you're Samuel Oak's nephew."

"Hey, I am my own person, okay."

"Oh wow, no way. Hey everyone listen to this guy, he's his own person."

Something exploded outside. It didn't sound terribly loud, but the floor on the living room trembled a little, at least enough to make everyone afraid. Thankfully for them that seemed to be the end of it.

As soon as everyone realized they were not in danger they all walked outside filled with curiosity. There was smoke coming out from a tree nearby, and the multitude were soon joined by Yvgeny, who was still next to the window, in inspecting the maligned zone.

They followed the smoke all the way to a small patch of yellow grass surrounded by some trees, not far from Ash's house. Their surprise and intense curiosity were matched, perhaps even surpassed, by what they found underneath the tree. Some kind of vehicle had crashed there, it looked like a gray compact car, of the kind that can only fit two people inside, with a very futuristic design, and a pair of enlarged exhaust pipes coming from the back. It was not on fire, it didn't even look that damaged, but it was obvious the impact had been considerable.

One of the doors of the vehicle suddenly opened and a blueish-gray figure came out and dropped on the ground. Ash, Serena and Ritchie rushed to help, but the figure raised nonchalantly and started dusting its clothes off with its hands before the trio reached the crash scene. The dust settled completely and they got close enough to take a good look at the unfortunate pilot, it was a girl with remarkably curly brown hair tied into a wild bun. She had a lively face and an unusual pair of blue eyes, with a pair of blue goggles above them adorning her forehead. She was wearing a shiny blue tank top that adjusted tightly to her skin and left her midriff bare, and blue shorts that ended below her knee, also very tight.

She immediately recognized Ash, her face lit up. She went over to him and energetically extended her hand to him.

"Hey Ash!" She said with her high pitched yet pleasant voice. "I'm Emica, and I'm here to invite you to the technologically advanced, futuristically rich region of Kynomiral."

"Come on! Yet another one?" Scott cried behind them.

"I'm so glad I've found you Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, I was afraid I would arrive too late. That's why I—as you can see—didn't take the necessary precautions on the road."

"You did get here too late, leave!"

"Are you okay?" Ritchie asked her. His eyes were still swollen.

"Yeah, why? Oh this, don't worry, my travel pod is very safe. So what do you say Ash Ketchum," Emica said looking straight at Ash, who was confused, scared and excited, all at the same time, "are you ready to come with me to Kynomiral?"

"Uhh... you bet!"

"Wait! Hold on a minute," Jake cried out. "You can't just come here and snatch him away. Ash! You need to decide bro, who's it gonna be?"

Jake pointed at Ash in an accusatory manner, to which Ash responded by staring at nothing in particular, silently, with a resolute look on his face. It was obvious he was going to leave on a journey with one of them, but it was also obvious he had no idea of which one of them it would be. Just then, as they waited patiently for Ash to move and answer them, his eyes became ten times bigger, then he smacked his cheeks loudly. That whole deal had made Ash forget something really important, and remembering it made him explode internally. Everyone else took his volatile reaction as a sign of his resolution, and they were dying from the expectation.

"I just remembered," Ash said, while everyone gave him their most unadulterated attention. "My friend Lillie was supposed to arrive today, she's visiting from Alola!"

"So what does that mean?" Karius, the scholarly dude from Domerlac, intervened. "Which region do you choose?"

Before anyone could speak again Delia smacked her cheeks too, just as loudly as her son did moments ago, if not more.

"I forgot to tell you Ash!" She exclaimed. "She's already here, I'm afraid we left her alone in the house, she was waiting for you in your room."

"Come on Serena," Ash finalized before he bolted off to his house, with Serena quickly reaching him and running by his side.

"...you know what..." Jake said, "I blame Emica for this."

"Yeah, me too," Scott added.

"I don't know," Emica replied. "I have a good feeling about this…"


	5. Ash's Choice Part 1

Delia Ketchum reluctantly escorted the pretenders back into her house. Everyone who wanted her renowned and desired son to visit their respective regions. Trainers from places previously unheard of like Arundel, Domerlac, Gudrut, Kynomiral, Nestan-Darejan and Ruston; Scott, who was promoting his newly revamped Battle Frontier, Ritchie from Kanto, and even Yvgeny, the guy with the sword, who finally relented and abode by Delia's rules, and left his weapon resting at the front of the house, went into her living room and accommodated themselves on any seat they could find around.

Gary Oak, childhood friend of Ash, just left unceremoniously. He had an actual job after all, at his grandfather's lab, and more importantly, none of the foreign trainers cared for him. He would have accepted their invitation to visit their region, if they had been a bit nicer, if they had treated him with respect. But it was all okay for Gary because, at least according to him, he didn't care for them at all.

Delia did not feel like attending all those guests, and she knew she did not have to deal with any of them, and yet, she decided to humor them a bit longer with a cordial smile and some light appetizers, nothing too laborious. She then sat on the couch on middle of the living room while they all waited for Ash to reappear. Delia looked around, locking eyes with every member of the multifaceted roster of faces gathered in her house. And every mind behind every pair of eyes there could tell she had an indisputable influence over her son's choice, and all of them realized that whatever happened immediately afterwards would be crucial in one of them accomplishing their particular objective.

She then turned to Yvgeny, who happened to be right next to her. He recoiled a bit and brazed for the look they shared afterwards, even though Delia seemed only friendly, she effortlessly demanded his respect and cautiousness for words. He was in her house after all.

"So, Yvgeny," she said.

"Yes ma'am," Yvgeny, the biggest guy in the room, nervously replied.

"I'm so sorry to hear about what's happening in your region. If I may ask, what percentage of the pokemon population has been affected by the blight?"

"Ah! Yes… well, I don't know. Perhaps, twelve percent?"

"I see, and that is approximately?"

"Hm, I'm not sure, I am not aware of any official counting of the victims having taken place in the past."

"Do you know what approximately means?"

"I do not."

"Just to be clear, I'm not suggesting that only twelve pokemon in total have been affected."

"Oh, goodness no, of course not, it has been more than that for sure. At least a few dozen mareep have been affected."

"Only mareep?"

"Well yes, we have many mareep, too many I would say, I mean, it is not the only species we have in our region, but it is mainly what we have, by a very wide margin, very, very, very wide. To be honest with you I'm glad some of them have died because now we have to find something else to eat."

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah, I was sick to death of them." 

The room went absolutely silent. Nobody else was talking, they were all simply observing, and yet, after Yvgeny unashamedly admitted the chief dietary habits of his region, everyone took notice of just how cuttingly silent it was.

"Oh-kay… wait, and what about the people who died?" Delia asked.

"What about them?" Yvgeny unwittingly replied. He had absolutely no idea of something being wrong with him. "I'll admit, perhaps they shouldn't have eaten so many of them so quickly."

"They ate infected mareep?" Delia said with alarm.

"Yeah probably, I mean they ate too many during the competition, I'm sure one or two of the infected ones popped up in there."

"…Yvgeny, I'm going to ask you to leave."

"Okay," Yvgeny replied, not really surprised.

"I'm sure this isn't the first time you've been through something like this."

"No, it is not."

"Thank you for coming."

Yvgeny stood up. "Can I have one of your pokemon?" He asked.

"Why?" Delia cautiously asked back.

"It doesn't have to be very big… what? I need something for the road, don't I?" Yvgeny exclaimed with an oblivious smile on his pale face.

"Please get of my house. I hope you understand I must report this to the police, to see if somebody has reported missing pokemon recently." 

"So is that a no?"

"Yes, that is a no, get out."

"Okay, thank you for your time." Yvgeny promptly got out of the house and started walking carelessly into the open field, forgetting his sword behind. He soon disappeared on the horizon. 

Meanwhile, upstairs, Ash's room was a mess. His bed was covered with pillows and blankets, thin books and magazines were scattered all over the floor, and somehow there was a general smell of something akin to old people smell mixed with the more appropriate scent of deodorant. Ash and Serena were confused, Lillie was supposed to be there and yet she was nowhere to be found. When they arrived back at the house, they had enough time to look all around the house for her before the rest of the trainers arrived. They didn't find her, and there seemed to be nothing else to do but to ask his mom if she was sure Lillie had arrived.

Then there was a yawn. Both Serena and Ash realized they had failed to inspect the bed thoroughly. Serena looked at Ash with the trace of a smile on her lips. Ash returned the look decisively and intensely, then Serena went over to the bed, masterfully grabbed every single one of the blankets with her hands and arms, and lifted them all, revealing the jolly magikarp imprinted on the bedspread and no Lillie. Then there was another yawn, and Serena was able to correctly pinpoint its location at the edge of the bed, where there was a bean bag, which they didn't bother to move, as the space behind it seemed way too small to contain a person. Ash moved next to Serena and both of them nodded at one another, then Ash lifted the beanbag and revealed their target, a thoroughly dozed off Lillie pleasantly laying on a comfy rug at the end of the bed. They couldn't help but let out lively laughs which together made just enough noise to wake the slim blonde girl up, and as soon as she opened her eyes and saw the pair laughing right above her, her face turned completely red. Immediately afterwards she got up, turned her back to them and crossed her arms. Both Serena and Ash realized they had made their target angry with their careless giggles, but they couldn't quite stop themselves, and Lillie's indignation and embarrassment grew at the same rate she lowered her head. It was Serena who, after taking a deep, almost painful breath, was able to control herself and apologize profusely to Lillie, and spoke for Ash too when she said she didn't mean any offense—none in the least.

"I promise we weren't mocking you in any way Lillie," Serena said. "I know we haven't officially been introduced yet and I don't want to ruin our first meeting face to face."

"What are you talking about?" Ash said. "This is probably the best way to meet."

"Shut up Ash, she understandably wasn't a fan of our little number just then."

"Come on, it's fine, right Lillie?"

Lillie sighed, with her back still turned to them. Her face was not red anymore, in fact her cheeks slowly moved her lips to make a little smile. It was the same Ash, with whom she had shared many adventures on her home region of Alola not long ago, and who was a dear friend of her. And even though she had never met Serena before, she had a pretty good image of her thanks to what Ash had told Lillie about her, and upon meeting her for the first time she found her voice very soothing. Lillie then turned to them with a smile on her face, although she still couldn't look at them in the eye. She extended her arm but before she could decide which hand to shake first, Ash moved in front of her and gave her a warm hug, which she returned wholeheartedly. After Ash let go of her Lillie was still tumbling a bit, and without stopping she went over to Serena and hugged her too. Lillie sensed a mild, inoffensive change of mood coming from Serena. It was warm and pleasant and then it wasn't, until Lillie hugged her and reassured her with a first embrace, at which point the warm and pleasant mood returned.

"It's nice to see you again Lillie, how has it been?" Ash asked.

"It's been fun, and Snowy and I were glad to accept your gracious invitation to visit Kanto," Lillie replied.

"That's awesome, when did you arrive?"

"A few hours ago."

"Really, why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I was going to, when I first got here your very nice mom told me you were out. She correctly guessed I was tired, I probably looked dead. Anyway she said I could sleep in any bed I found around the house and that maybe I'd find Serena around here somewhere, so I came in here to take a look. The door was open by the way."

"Yeah no worries, you should have used the bed like my mom said."

"Yeah, anyway I did hear when you came in I think, and I was about to come out when I started hearing a bunch of voices. I decided to wait in here a little bit, but I ended up falling asleep."

"I guess that's what happens when you wait too much, isn't that right?"

"You think so?"

"Of course! I hate waiting, what do you think Serena?"

"I guess so," Serena answered, not wanting to side with either one of them.

The trio then got out of Ash's room and encountered Pikachu, who had chocolate smeared all over his mouth, and who, as soon as he saw Lille, jumped into her arms and gave her a hug that she returned tenderly.


	6. Ash's Choice Part 2

Meanwhile downstairs, with Yvgeny gone, Karius and Karon had taken the opportunity to try to convince Delia to let her son go to their region of Domerlac.

When Ash saw the scene he remembered about the frantic day he'd had so far, as well as the awesome but difficult choice he had to make. He rushed downstairs, and failed to identify that some of the pretenders were missing.

"…Upon arrival at Domerlac," Karius lectured while standing up, "Ash will be given a complete and extensive tour of the Domerlac Academy, by us, Karon and I. Then, once he takes an introductory course and goes through a rigorous exam, which will test not only his strength and ability but also his will and his general worldview, he will be inducted into one of the six different factions located inside the academy in accordance to his skill level as well as his personality. Once all of that is done he will be instituted in the academy for the meek quantity of a hundred and twenty thousand."

"A hundred and twenty thousand a year?" Delia asked with a cautious tone.

"Eh, no, per month."

"Woop! That's it Ash, you're not going to Domerlac."

"But mom, I want to belong to a faction," Ash cried out.

"You can belong to any faction you want, just not there. In fact you can join Delia's faction, located in the comfort of your own house, right now for free. That's the end of our dealings with you gentleman and lady, bye."

"Wait, that's it?" Karon exclaimed. "You have to give us another opportunity."

"I'm not giving you any money, and neither is my son."

"Okay, bye."

"So, what are you, recluters? You didn't come here specifically for ash, did you?" Serena asked.

"What about you Serena? Would you like to come to Domerlac?"

"No, leave." 

Immediately afterwards Karius and Karon left the house without saying another word.

"Well, that's two less to worry about," Delia said.

"Make that four, and include Scott and Ritchie," Ash added, openly disinterested.

"Wow Ash," Serena said, visibly gushing about Ash with her fists in front of her chest. "I didn't know you could be so merciless."

"I don't want to feel like I'm doing the same thing twice, and I really don't like feeling like people are lying to me."

"I totally know what you mean, me neither," Serena said, still visibly gushing. "I hate that."

"Yeah, me too." Elyan, the taciturn read-head from Gudrut, intervened, with a stupid smile on his face. "I likewise hate… when people do that to me too."

Ash and Serena looked at each other. Meanwhile Elyan kept his awkward smile and hoped nobody noticed how nervous he was, although a drop of sweat subtly rolled down his temple. However, nobody cared for him.

"What do we do now?" Ash said. He almost shouted it actually. He had grown extremely impatient and was more than ready to leave for his next adventure.

"Let's see," Serena said. She rubbed her chin with her index finger and inspected the remaining players. "We have Elyan from Gudrut, Jake from Ruston, Sebastian and Noelle from Arundel, and Emica from Kynomiral. And if you can't decide where to go Ash, then we'll help you choose."

"That's a great idea Serena!" Delia exclaimed, and made Serena blush with her compliment. "Why don't you interview Jake? And see what his deal is, and if he's going to charge me a lot of money just so my son can visit his region, and, Ash, why don't you do the same with Sebastian and Noelle?"

Ash turned to his mom, then he looked at the sullen pair, Sebastian and Noelle. He wanted to say something, but he didn't quite know how.

"What if Lillie interviews them?" Ash finally blurted out. And even though he wanted to be subtle and to avoid hurting their feelings, they immediately understood what he meant by that, and after sharing a knowing look, they raised from their seats and, Sebastian only, cleared his throat.

"The message is received, we have failed," Sebastian said. "I guess it's time for us to go." He reached for Noelle's hand, but she flinched once he made contact and he retreated. Noelle quickly reacted, it was obvious she regretted not simply grabbing his hand and caressing it. She almost could've cried, he lamented the failure with his eyes closed and his head down.

"Come on guys, don't give up so easily," Ritchie said jarringly.

"You don't understand!" Noelle suddenly lashed out at the plump red-head. "No one could ever understand…"

"Your family will be fine," Sebastian said. He stroke her shoulders, gently grabbed the back of her head, and led her to him. "And we'll find a cure for George, and save Monty too, I promise you."

"Who's George?" Ritchie asked.

"Please shut up Ritchie come on," Serena scolded him. "Read the vibe." She suddenly didn't fancy him anymore, in any way.

"I know I'm forcing you to love me Sebastian, but I can't stop," Noelle said, in a full embrace with Sebastian.

"I don't want you to stop, I'd die without you," Sebastian answered. "When you weren't there I genuinely thought I would die, they cut my electricity and I didn't even care… because I didn't have you with me."

Still embracing, Sebastian and Noelle walked towards the door, and Ritchie, who was the closest to it, opened it for them, and closed it after they got out and left.

"I'm sorry but they weirded me out," Ash said. He was unfazed by their depressing business. "Who should I interview instead?"

"Me!" Emica cried. Then she took Ash by the hand and stormed out of the house with him. "Kynomiral here we go!" She cried outside.

Afterwards Jake took Serena by the hand and took her outside too. She was too distraught to care, having witnessed how Emica just snatched his boy moments ago. By sheer inertia Serena started walking along with the blue-haired Jake, who promptly started raving about his region, Ruston, with her.

"Let me tell ya Serena! Skydiving, wind surfing, air jousting, hover-crafts and life rafts, and an average two percent chance of death, Ruston has it all! Do you know why everyone is so angry all the time? So up in arms about any weird stuff they think they care for but shouldn't? It is because they haven't felt the air on their faces while they fall from a hundred million worth aircraft at terminal velocity, all the way to the red and green colored ground. That's what the youth, well, the relative youth of today needs, to get their asses off the couch and stop staring at a screen that'll never talk back at them. More independence, more choices to make, more risks to take and to put themselves and their bodies into. All thanks to the technology that has been granted to us by the pokemon which dwell in our region. Hey, do you have a boyfriend?"

"What?" Serena asked. She had stopped listened to him, but she heard that last sentence.

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

"Well… no."

"Sweet, I think you're really beautiful, do you want to hang out?"

"Um… I don't know."

Jake stopped walking, Serena stopped next to him. She felt a bit weird.

"Hey, let's just follow this moment, I live for this." Jake went in for a kiss on the cheek, but his lips were stopped before they reached Serena's skin by a hand, which, as soon as Jake identified the blockade, turned out to be Delia's.

"Ha, I asked Serena to interview you for a reason. Sorry to do this to you Serena, I wouldn't ever have let him try anything," Delia said. "Jake, you can leave, thank you for your time but we are not interested in Ruston,"

"Man, this sucks," Jake exclaimed.

"You just met me Jake," Serena replied.

"Yeah, exactly, you have to take chances and live your life at its fullest, after all, only a blink and we're gone, you know one time I was skiing on Mt Despero with…"

"Okay Jake, I think that's enough," Delia cut him off. Jake stopped and stared at them for a few seconds, analyzing the situation and thinking of what to do next. He knew there was nothing left for him to do there. He didn't even bother to go back into the house and say goodbye to anyone, he simply walked away.

Then there was some more trembling, another explosion very close to Delia and Serena. They rushed to yet another tree with smoke coming out of it, and found Emica's futuristic vehicle stamped on its trunk, with both Ash's and Emica's bodies laying down right next to it, unconscious, lightly injured, and covered in dust. Delia and Serena both screamed and ran to the scene. Both Ash and Emica regained consciousness and got up while stroking their heads and letting out a few confused moans.

"What happened!" Serena cried.

"…Emica let me drive her awesome vehicle, it was awesome," Ash said, still disoriented.

"Yeah, it seems you need a lot of practice Ash," Emica replied with a bit of blood on her forehead, dripping just above her bloodshot eye.

"What practice? You could've killed my son! Ash is never going Kynomiral!"

"What? But mom!"

"You shut up!"

"Okay."

"We are going to the hospital right now."

After a lengthy visit to the hospital, which lasted the whole afternoon, Delia and Serena returned to the house with Ash, who had been lucky enough to get off the accident with only a few light bandages on both his arms, and a neck brace. Emica decided not to return with them, seeing as she had fallen completely out of favor after injuring Ash, and for this Delia was more than satisfied.

They went through the door and found Ritchie, Lillie, and Elyan sitting on the couch all serious, although the atmosphere didn't seem as awkward as they would've thought. Out of them, only Ritchie had helped himself to some of their food, and was currently enjoying some cookies and milk.

"The guy with the blue shirt, Scott?" Lillie said. "He left. He seemed a bit angry but also hungry."

"I believe they call such a state: hangry," Ritchie said. "Hey Ash! So you want to take a trip through Kanto again now that everyone is gone?"

"Hey, I'm still here," Elyan exclaimed.

"Oh yeah I forgot."

"How? We've been talking the whole afternoon."

Ash ignored their exchange and approached Elyan, took his neck brace off, whilst ignoring his Mom's protests, and massaged the back of his neck a bit.

"Great, Elyan, you're still here, what was the name of your region?" Ash asked.

"Gudrut," Elyan answered scantily.

"Alright, let's go. You say it's very cold, right? Let's do this."

"Yeah, you heard that? Wow."

"Ash." Delia interrupted her son's sudden sprint through the house. "What in the world are you talking about? You just got back from the hospital."

Ash froze on the spot, with his right hand open directed at the front, and his left one made into a fist on his side. He felt a sudden rage take over him, wasn't exactly angry, but knew he would essentially lose it if he was to be forced to stay inside those four walls of his childhood home a day more; if Ash didn't feel like he was always moving forward, then he would rather drop dead on the spot, after all, Ash saw no difference between being quiet and stoic and being dead.

"Mom," he said after regaining motion. He raised his open hands and directed them to Delia in a pleading fashion. He didn't seem to be begging her, instead he tried to reason with her as best as he could, genuinely trying to communicate his intentions. "I need to do this. I've never felt better, I've never been more ready, but if I don't leave right away, then, then I'll be tired, then I'll need to rest, and I might just never recover."

"Oh my, I guess that's my son," Delia said. "Once he sets an objective he will not rest until he accomplishes it. And I guess that's also why you had to choose one of the most difficult objectives that there could be."

"That's right," Ash said. "Let's do this, let me prove to you that I am ready for this, Elyan! Let's have a quick battle, what do you say?"

"Um… I'm sorry Ash, I'm not a trainer. I don't have any pokemon with me at the moment." Elyan said, clashing his index fingers together, looking really sorry.

"Come on, are you serious? And you came all this way to ask me to visit your region, without a pokemon? Oh well, what about you Ritchie, fancy a battle?"

"Oh wow!" Ricthie exclaimed. His face lit up. "It'll be just like the old times, woo hoo!"

Both boys ran outside with eager pokeballs on their hands. Ash called his pokemon first. A dancing mienfoo, small but spirited, with yellow skin and reddish touches on arms and legs, and a fierce pair of eyes.

"This is Mienfoo," Ash said. "I captured her just before coming back home, and she will be one of my companions through Gudrut. are you ready Mienfoo?"

Ash's Mienfoo nodded decisively. Ritchie smiled knowingly.

"Sparky, come out!" He said, then he called his pokemon out. A larger, more rotund version of Pikachu, orange instead of yellow, with a heavier sight and presence.

"Alright, I'll oversee this match," Serena said.

"Oh wow, Sparky evolved into a raichu didn't he?" Ash said.

"Yes," Ritchie replied. "Sparky! Use thunder!" He then cried out. Then his pokemon, Sparky, frowned, as if he were focusing intensely, and out of the top of his head a giant thunder manifested itself with a resounding sound. As Sparky howled a battle-cry, the giant and energized thunder traveled through the impromptu battlefield, outside Ash's house, and stopped at contact with Mienfoo, essentially toasting her with its power. After the attack subsided and the light disappeared, Mienfoo fell on the ground thoroughly defeated. Smoke came out of her body, her eyes no longer looked fierce, instead she seemed to be forcefully resting.

"I guess Ritchie wins," Serena said, reluctantly.

"Wow, Ash, you need a lot of training," Ritchie said.

"Well, yeah, that's why I asked you for a quick battle," Ash replied, quite confounded.

"Why didn't you use your more seasoned pokemon?"

"Because, that's the whole reason I do this," Ash said, rather loudly. "I train pokemon. I train new pokemon through new places. You make new friends, and together you become more powerful than ever before."

"But pokemon are life partners, you shouldn't just throw them away," Ritchie said.

His response had a huge effect on Ash, who lowered his head. His eyes got watery, but nobody could notice it because of his cap. Ritchie likewise didn't notice the heavy stare that Serena was shooting at him.

"How can you say that?" Ash whispered. "How can you say that I've thrown them away." Ash was genuinely angry at his friend. He then remembered about all the times he had to let go of a friend, Charizard, Butterfree, Goodra, and stopped before he realized he was about to tear up. "You don't know what I've had to do! Do you think I wanted to leave them? I've cried. Have you cried recently, Ritchie?"

"Yeah… sometimes," Ritchie replied. "I also cried when my grandma died recently."

"Well… I cried when my butterfree left with another butterfree, a pink butterfree, to make babies, because it was mating season," Ash said. But he had to admit his perils didn't compare to Ritchie's. "By the way, sorry about your grandma."

"Thanks," Ritchie said. Then the rest of the guys went over to Ritchie to give him their condolences, while Ash stayed put looking at them, still a bit incensed. He called Mienfoo back.

"Okay, well, it's time to go," Ash said. "Are you in Serena?"

Serena's eyes flashed, she raised her fists. "Yes!" She said enthusiastically.

"Great, what about you Lillie?"

Lillie quivered. She thought about it for a few seconds, and then closed her eyes, and kept thinking. It was a very important decision after all. One that, at least according to her, needed a bit of pondering before accepting. Everyone waited respectfully for her answer, but she took her time, she even put her hand on her chin and tried to focus, but nothing came up.

"Okay, I'll go," she said. But she wasn't really sure, she just blurted out her answer when her nervousness got the better of her.

"Great, what about you Ritchie?" Ash asked.

"Nah, it's too soon for me," Ritchie replied. "But thank you." He took a time to reevaluate Ash's inviting offer, but, after sensing it would constitute too much commitment, he kept quiet and resigned himself to stay.

The group prepared to leave. They packed their bags and psyched themselves up for the long journey that awaited them. Delia unabashedly told his son to pack clean underwear and to do his best to maintain it clean. Ash shouted "Mom!" with his face slightly redder than before while both Serena and Lillie laughed at their exchange, with their hands covering their smiling mouths and their eyes closed. It was the exact response Delia wanted from the three of them, and for this she was really pleased.

The front door opened. Delia's young ward, Mr. Mime, with blue long ears and bright red cheeks, walked in joyously, carrying a box with him.

"The cake!" Delia shouted. "I had forgotten all about it!"

"What cake?" Ritchie exclaimed, fully alert, and rather excited.

"I'd commissioned a special cake as a celebration gift for your return Ash, I'm sorry, and I'm sorry to you too Mr. Mime, I made you go all the way to pick it up."

"Mime," Mr. Mime replied scantily, signaling immediate forgiveness. However in actuality he was quite angry for all the trouble he had gone through at the store, although, being an impeccable-mannered individual, he chose to keep his distress only to himself.

Ash, who was already holding the shoulder straps of his backpack behind him, went over to Mr. Mime and opened the box he was holding, unveiling his sugary present. It was a personalized cake with the probably delicious image of him, his mom, Pikachu, and the currently angry Mr. Mime, whose literally sweet face had been rumpled and disfigured, adding insult to the injury. The four of them were involved in a tender hug. And below them an inscription in meringue letters that read "There's no place like home, but even better, our hug."

Ash looked at it for a few seconds, he seemed unfazed by it. Then he buried his face on it, right on the middle, and said: "Thanks Mom, this is a very sweet gesture." And Delia couldn't help but be delighted. She knew goodbyes were never easy for her son.


	7. Ash's Choice Part 3

Ash, Pikachu, Serena, Lillie, and Elyan, all came out of the house that warm evening. Before their departure however, they saw Ritchie protest at Ash for ruining the cake, and how afterwards Delia gave him some money to accompany Mr. Mime to get another one.

Serena in particular was both happy and sad. Happy because she was ready to embark on another adventure, and because her sylveon would be in good hands. She was mildly sad because her sylveon would stay behind. She sensed it was the right thing to do, during the little time she had been in Kanto, Sylveon had taken quite a liking to Delia, and it was more than reciprocated. Serena had already left her small pancham with Professor Sycamore back on Kalos, and so her first pokemon, Braixen, would be the only one, or at least the first, accompanying her through Gudrut. She let out a lively laugh and touched Ash's shoulder as the night fell upon the new group of travelers. They were ready and expectant, they could taste the sense of adventure.

On the road to the airport, where a plane would take them to the other side of the world, none other than the blue haired Jake appeared right in front of them, riding on top of his majestic braviary, with giant wings, red and blue, and a white crown of feathers on its head. Jake said nothing, but his braviary suddenly bolted towards Ash and caught him by the shoulders with its claws upon contact, and took him to the skies, to the horror of his grounded friends.

"Ahh! what do you think you're doing Jake?" Ash cried on the air.

"Don't worry Ash, I know you really want to go to Ruston," Jake replied. "I've come to rescue you, we'll be there soon, you'll see."

"I already decided to go to Gudrut, let me go!"

"Okay, I'll let you go, if you come to Ruston with me," Jake said. Then his braviary flew higher and farther away.

On the ground Elyan and Lillie urged Jake to let Ash go, and Lillie called her light-blue, four-legged, adorable-looking Snowy, who came out of her pokeball alert and ready to help. Right then Lillie noticed that Serena was suddenly gone. They had to stay put however, and Pikachu, also on the ground, likewise couldn't strike in fear of harming Ash. All they could do was chase Jake and his braviary from the ground, and hope he didn't slip away.

Ash knew he had to do something, the ground below him didn't scare him, instead it filled his ensuing rage. He swaggered and swayed from braviary's claws while everyone, even Jake, told him to stop, but he didn't. He suddenly slipped, he screamed. Jake freaked out and braviary slowed down. But Ash held on to braviary's claws, let out a courageous shout, and waved his legs forward and backward until he managed to put braviary's head in a leg lock. Braviary lost balance. Jake started to fall off, he screamed like a little girl and waved his hands in panic. But before he could fall off and die Ash managed to climb on top of braviary and grab his arm.

"Thanks! You saved my skin man! Now let's go to Ruston," Jake said.

"No Jake, you can't do this, you can't just force people to do whatever you want," Ash replied.

"Ruston is the best Ash, come on!"

"No Jake!"

They started struggling, still on top of braviary, who suddenly felt a crippling cold on his claws. From the ground, sprinting right below him, Snowy blasted some of her moderately powerful ice at him, with Elyan, Pikachu and Lillie running behind her. Jake took a swing at Ash, and missed his face just barely.

"Stop it Jake!" Ash shouted as he grabbed Jake's wrists.

"You need to sleep Ash, don't worry. When you wake up you'll be in Ruston and everything will be fine! We have monster trucks powered by pokemon, my late cousin used to be the best driver around."

"You're crazy!"

They continued struggling, grunting and growling. A fire projectile crossed right in front of braviary and blocked its path. It was Serena on top of Charizard, heading off to encounter them. Braviary was so startled by the fire that it made both Ash and Jake lose balance, and they managed to stay on top and avoid becoming a pulpy part of the ground merely by the tip of their fingers. Jake shouted at braviary to fly away as he held onto Ash; Jake wasn't giving up. However every time braviary tried to escape Charizard blocked its way with fire, and the rather weak yet useful ice from Snowy below finished neutralizing it. It was over. Ash grabbed Jake's collar and pulled him closer to him.

"Red light, Blue light, yellow light!" Ash said right to his face. Then he pushed Jake off of him and jumped off braviary.

Jake screamed and smacked his cheeks. He thought he had killed Ash Ketchum, but Ash knew he wouldn't hit the ground, and a second later Charizard caught him on his paws. Jake calmed down, but he was still confused because of what Ash said to him. However all of that changed when he heard Pikachu charging his powerful thunderbolt, which he then released with a battle-cry and a strident twang directly on Jake and his braviary, effectively toasting them.

Ash celebrated with a shout and by raising his arms. However, Charizard didn't have a good grip on him yet, so Ash slipped from his paws with his torso naked, leaving Charizard holding only his shirt and jacket. Ash fell, although not from very high up, and Elyan was there to catch him with his chest and arms. It hurt, quite a bit, but they were still in one piece and not toasted.

Still on the air, still holding on to braviary, Jake crashed into a tree. And while he was decent enough to get his braviary back into a pokeball before hitting the ground, he himself had no such luck, and he fell right on his rear.

"You'll pay for this bro!" He cried, clearly in pain. "Ruston is awesome, why don't you want to visit?"

"Because you suck!" Ash shouted, still half-naked.

"No I don't, you suck, for doing this to me," Jake whispered to himself. Then he stood up, took some leaves out of his collar and dusted off his rear, and walked away.

"And don't come back!" Serena said, with her hands on her hips. "Are you okay Ash?"

"Yeah, thanks for saving me again," Ash said, right before he realized he didn't have a shirt on.

"I am also okay," Elyan said. "Should we head to the airport now?"

"Yes," Ash said. Then he turned to Charizard. "I guess it's time to say goodbye again huh, until I come back old friend."

"Wait!" Lillie said. Something bothered her, it made her very anxious, even scared. She knew she had to say something, it was too much for her to handle. "I'm sorry Ash, I can't go."

"What?" Ash exclaimed loudly. It was quite a shock to him.

"I think I should stay… I'm not ready to go yet."

"Well… we can wait a bit if you want, right?" Ash turned to his still eager friends, who agreed effusively. But it was of no use.

"No, I can't let you do that," Lillie replied. It's okay, I'm just not ready to leave on a journey like that. Maybe later. Maybe I can even join you later."

"Of course, we'll be waiting for you if you choose to come. But Lillie, we can't just leave you like this."

"You must," Lillie said. She and Snowy then walked in front of Ash and bowed down. They then started walking away, but Charizard stopped them, and then urged them to climb on his back. Then they flew away, and Lillie waved at them weakly, almost shamefully. None of them knew what to say as they separated, and some silent time later Ash and company resumed their travel to the airport.


	8. A Simple Guy Part 1

Early in the morning, the plane landed on Maisoram City, on the region of Gudrut, where Elyan was from. He had accomplished his mission. Ash Ketchum, a renowned trainer with quite a few feats to his name, had agreed to take part in the local league. And he had brought his dear friend Serena with him, herself a renowned performer from Kalos.

The trip had made everyone sleepy. Without noticing, Ash and Serena were taken from the airport, from the urbanized, frenetic and restless city, into the calm and quiet plains full of green and brown on the rural village, just outside of the city of Maisoram. They arrived at Elyan's big yet modest-looking house very quickly, it was still a bit dark out.

Once they went inside, Ash and Serena noticed a clear change of atmosphere, which was very welcome. It instantly revitalized them. Outside it was dark and cold, but inside the cozy house it was very warm and very bright.

Elyan's mom jumped from the couch with gusto, it was obvious from her vibrant demeanor that she had been waiting patiently and diligently for their arrival. She had hair as red as Elyan's, just as straight, although hers reached her shoulders, and had virtually the same pair of blue eyes as him, of a deeper blue when looked upon carefully, perhaps.

"Come on in guys," she said. And she didn't stop there. "The breakfast is ready, make yourselves at home. You must be tired, how was the trip? My name is Juliette by the way, I'm Elyan's mom, it's nice to meet you. I hope Elyan was a good host, it's part of his job, you know."

"Yeah," a tall and bulky man wearing a flannel shirt, with messy hair of a lighter shade of red, added. "Nice to meet you, I'm Benjamin, Elyan's dad. Did you know, Elyan used to watch cartoons on the tub during his daily bath. Everyday. He'd spend hours in there, his body would be all wrinkled by the time he came out."

"Right out the door again, huh," Elyan said, seemingly very tired all of the sudden.

"Come on dear, he just walked in."

"Thanks mom," Elyan said. "You know, you could've said something, you could've maybe asked him not to say it, instead of scolding him after the fact. But it's okay, don't worry, I still love you. Don't listen to my dad guys, he's just trying to embarrass me."

"Come on son, I'm just kidding around."

"Yeah no, I know. I'm not ashamed anyway. I miss those days. It was one of the best periods of my life actually. I wish I could go back to being a slightly chubby kid submerging his little red butt on the water, too bad I can't."

"Don't worry Elyan, we totally know what you mean, right Pikachu?" Ash said. "You can still watch Tv while you take your bath if you really want to."

"Yeah I guess, thanks Ash. Doesn't matter let's just go to the kitchen." Elyan finalized. Then he, and his dad and his mom, got out of Ash and Serena's way and led them to the kitchen table, just past the living room.

Elyan's parents were both retired. Throughout their long careers in teaching they acquired quite a bit of money, which they wisely invested on the safe, comfortable, warm, and spacious place were they resided with their son, instead of anything flashier or more complicated.

"Let me introduce you to our other guests," Elyan's mom said. "They didn't wait to start eating."

At the table, two older gentlemen—one of them fully bald, the other mostly bald—sat right next to each other, sharing the place at the top of the table seemingly without any issue.

"This is Blaine," Elyan's mom said, with her open hand directed at the balder gentleman, with the mustache and the ugly sweater. "And this is Pryce," she said, referring to the second gentleman, with some white hair mainly on the sides and the back of his head, and the even uglier sweater.

"I just couldn't wait," Blaine said, or rather, he grumbled. "I'm too old to wait."

"I could have waited, but I didn't want this bald idiot to be the first one to eat," Pryce added, with the same grumbling tone.

"Wait, what!" Ash exclaimed, almost jumping from the sudden excitement. "Elyan! You didn't tell me Blaine and Pryce were in Gudrut."

"Do you know each other?"

"Know them! I challenged their gyms some time ago, I had like five matches overall with both of them! How have you been guys? Why are you in Gudrut?"

"Because here no one asks us questions like that, boy, let me eat my soup," Blaine said, cuttingly.

"Don't you remember me?"

"No, do you think I remember every trainer that has challenged my gym?" Pryce added, even more cuttingly. "I can barely remember to put on my trousers in the morning, in fact I forgot to put them on today. But don't worry my khakis are tight enough. Now shut up and let us eat in peace."

Also at the table there was a stoic and taciturn girl, inconspicuously sitting at the farthest corner from the action. Unlike Blaine or Pryce, she was not eating yet.

"And this is Agnes, she's a very good friend of Elyan," Elyan's mom said.

Agnes, with her pitch black hair reaching her back, a mechanical smile on her lips, and an eyebrow raised, slowly raised her open hand and said: "Hello," with a rather sullen tone.

"What are you doing here?" Elyan asked her.

"Your mom invited me," Agnes answered. "What, was I not allowed to accept her invitation? Do you not want me here?"

"No. I mean that's not the case, I'm just asking. I'm very glad you're here."

"I bet you are."

"Sparks are flying am I right?" Elyan's mom added.

"So, what cartoons did you watch while you were on the tub?" Ash casually asked.

"Ash!" Serena intervened, and with the sudden intensity that his remark brought out of her, she couldn't help but give him a light elbow to the rib. "Don't talk about that right now (can you see sparks are flying? She wanted to say)."

"Don't worry Serena, everyone knows," Elyan answered. "Agnes definitely knows about that. It's probably the first thing my dad said to her."

"No it wasn't," Elyan's dad said. "The first thing I said to Agnes was all about the time when you were a baby and you cried because you couldn't poo."

"Ah right, of course!" Elyan said with a hint of irony. "I have a faint memory about that as well, it was quite a harrowing moment for me. Anyway! How are things at the library?"

"The same," Agnes said.

"Great! That's fantastic! Agnes works at the local library by the way. A fine job I might say, albeit one that does not produce many anecdotes."

"I… I have to say Elyan," Serena said. "It seems like it's very hard for you to get embarrassed."

"Thanks, however, trust me Serena, I get embarrassed a lot. Shame, just like pain, is a sensation that never goes away."

"Wow, that's deep," Ash said.

"And depressing," Elyan's mom added. "Have you talked to Ash and Serena about all the things they'll find around Gudrut?"

"I have not."

"Why not son?"

"Because I thought it'd be better if they discovered everything by themselves, that way the trip would be much more fun."

"I think it's because you don't like talking," Agnes said, without bothering to look at Elyan. "And what you're saying now it's just an excuse to avoid talking more."

"Thanks Agnes, you could be talking about yourself right now, but thanks nonetheless."

"Oh yeah? Well if you're so loquacious Elyan, then why don't you give us a general rundown of the region, for the sake of your guests?"

"That's a grand idea!" Elyan's mom added.

"Mom, come on."

"Elyan, you come on dear."

"Oh snap," Agnes silently added, without looking up from the table.

"Why don't you admonish Agnes too?"

"Because she's our guest."

"At this point, is she still considered a guest?"

"Yes, she can do whatever she wants."

"Ah, I understand. Well then, I should start my speech then." Elyan cleared his throat. "In Gudrut you will find, many pokemon, pokemon gyms, with powerful gym leaders, pokemon centers, places to buy stuff for your training endeavors. And it is very cold. Thank you."

"That explanation sucked," Blaine said. "No offense Elyan, but that was the most boringly bland piece of explanatory manure that I have had the misfortune of listening with my old and hairy ears, and you should feel guilty for it. In fact you should think about changing your ways altogether, and if you don't want to do that then you should think about ending your ways, if you catch my drift."

"Thank you so much Blaine, you know what, you're absolutely right. The stage is yours sir, if you have anything to add about Gudrut."

"Who me?" Blaine said, as if, with fake modesty. "Oh no, I couldn't. Oh well, I guess this region needs a stranger's eye to be fully appreciated."

Blaine got up from his chair and then pulled it back further, before he stopped altogether.

"Oh right, I shouldn't get on top of this table any more, I forgot," he said. "Elyan, bring me the coffee table from the living room."

Elyan unceremoniously obeyed him and dragged the smaller table to him, to a neat space on the living room, facing the kitchen, in front of the crowd. Blaine gave him a buck for his troubles, which Elyan then put on his pocket, completely unfazed by the whole situation.

"Alright," Blaine said. Then he hopped onto the coffee table. "Here goes nothing." Then he started singing, with his old and tired voice, which, although it wasn't especially pleasant, still had a good tone, so it wasn't either bland nor hard to listen to. "Ahem! …Peace and silence you'll find here! On a bed made out of snow! For it is quite cold you see! But there's also quite a show! Hoetee, hoetee, hoetee! Hoetee, hoetee, hoo! Shubee, dobee, dobee, doo! I, love Gudrut, bro!"

"You should end it on I love Gudrut," Pryce interrupted.

"Did I ask for notes?" Blaine said suddenly incensed. "One of these days I'm gonna bash your head in! Shut your mouth you old fart. Now where was I? Ahem! …Can you believe there's beaches too! And a whole lot of snow! But one thing you won't find here, is your cold heart, you know! Because you aren't here, and I just want to sob! But in this sad lonely land I can just take off my shorts! And no one would notice!"

"You should end it on the rhyme."

"Shut up!" Blaine cried out. "Okay, it's your turn Pryce," he then said more calmly.

"Alright," Pryce said. And then he got up on the table and started rapping, rather fast for a guy his age. "Now for some poke-rap it's your boy Icy P! To tell stupid kids you mean nothing to me! Don't shout useless attacks make sure you stay quiet! Use your mouth for something else this'll give you a riot!

"Seems like everyday another trainer appears! Up to mad Blaine to make sure the fool fears! Rolling and scorching with some oddish in the trunk! Water, rock and ground got nothing on this hunk! Boy! Cush on my left, can on my right! Blast you off Cinnabar island then hop on my ride!

"Fire and ice, two worlds collide! Blazin' and chillin' on the gudrutian side! Mad trainin' mad tokin', Joy and Jenny on my lap! Nurse and officer tappin' before I take a nap! Senile ages approaching easy peezy don't cry! Ain't afraid of dementia we be gym leaders for life! Articuno and moltres make sure you catch them all! Stay alert fool or I'll pop your brain out of your ass!"

"What the hell was that!" Serena exclaimed, seemingly the only one angered and disturbed by the songs from the senior citizens.

"Yeah, wow! That was awesome!" Ash said, enthusiastically. "Man! Blaine, you have to do that again."

"If you insist." And Blaine sang his quirky, stupid song again, for Ash, and for himself, and for no one else.

Elyan and his family had gotten used to them, and so they were then able to turn their senses off during their performances. After repeating the whole thing twice, including Pryce's verses, at Ash's insistence, Blaine fell on his knees on top of the table, sweaty and without breath. Everyone clapped, but—with the exception of Ash—they did so only halfheartedly.

"That was way better than your meek exposition Elyan," Agnes said. "At least they put some effort into it, clearly."

"That's not a very nice thing to say," Elyan replied. "My speech may have been more dour, but it was definitely more concise and intelligible, in fact, I'll do it again too."

"No you won't," Pryce intervened. "It's my turn. Now I don't have a song about Gudrut, but I do have one about a long lost love."

Serena had stayed quiet, for quite a while. She was not entertained by the proceedings, let alone pleased. She actually thought both Blaine and Pryce were quite rude and disrespectful. So when Pryce mentioned it was his turn to sing, she felt like dying right there.

"Oh wow, well, I wish we could stay to listen to your song Pryce," Elyan said. "But I have to help Serena and Ash go through the logistics and such, for their impending travels around the region, so you'll have to excuse us, and so we leave you to take our breakfast on my room."

He then grabbed a plate and put as many sandwiches from the table as he could on it. Then he whispered one word to Ash and Serena: "Run." Then led them upstairs.

Before he closed the door of his bedroom behind him, Elyan took a peek downstairs, and was able to see Agnes mouth the words 'well played' as she looked at him. Elyan smiled, he then closed the door.


	9. A Simple Guy Part 2

Elyan was almost eighteen, and had been an intern at the local professor's assistant's office for over two years. He was sure they were about to offer him a real position at the lab, and then he would be officially working with the professor's research team. That feat would turn him into his small village's most desirable bachelor. That was something he absolutely dreaded. With the exception of one thing, which pertained to one specific person, a girl, nothing really interested Elyan. In fact he was only hoping to get a real job so she, the girl, would see him in a more favorable light. There were other girls around, who were interested in the slender and tall Guy with blue eyes and a noticeable future, even if said future looked noticeably modest. But he was only interested in one of them, the one who had said no to him multiple times. He was sure he didn't fancy her just because she'd said no to him. His feelings for her existed long before he accumulated the courage to reveal his feelings to her, and remained the same after the rejection.

Serena grabbed a sandwich and sat on the chair by Elyan's old and rustic desk. His room was just as cozy and warm as the rest of the house, and for the first time since they'd arrived she was able to relax. She was very thankful for being saved from Pryce and Blaine's songs.

"So Elyan, how long have Pryce and Blaine been visiting?"

"A few weeks," Elyan said.

"I can't believe it," Ash said. "You're so lucky Elyan, how did you manage to convince them to stay in your house?"

"Yeah, I don't know about that. It was because of my job. I work for doctor Brutia, he's the regional professor."

"Okay, so, if somebody like them, let's say a gym leader from another region, or a trainer like Ash, wants to visit, is it your duty to attend them?"

"Not quite. I mean, that's not my actual job, I work at an office. This is something extra I'd say. I volunteered to host Blaine and Pryce. I mean, I asked my parents to do it and they agreed. And I also volunteered to try and recruit the two of you."

Elyan grabbed one of the sandwiches and ate it whole. Then he continued.

"But, I guess since I'm not a trainer it doesn't sound as glamorous to me."

"That's a great idea though, I should invite some gym leaders to visit me when I go back to Kanto."

"Well, I guess it can have its perks, if you are a trainer. But again, as I'm not, I just know Pryce as the old guy who takes too long while using my bathroom."

"Doesn't he have one in his room?"

"Yes. He likes mine better."

"That sucks."

"I know."

"Why did you volunteer to host them?"

"Because it would give me a better chance of getting a real job at the lab."

"So if hosting gym leaders and trainers isn't your job, what do you do there at the lab?"

"It's nothing important, really," Elyan shrugged off. He really didn't want to talk about it.

"Come on, it must be really exciting," Ash pressed.

"Well, not really, but if you really want to hear about it. What I do is, I look through the entries that local trainers write into their pokedex to help with research. As you know, they have to write their findings down as they train their pokemon, and my task is to discern the most useful entries from the ones obviously written as a joke. I specifically have to go through the ones written by trainers from ages seven through fourteen, that's my range."

Serena and Ash stayed put, quietly listening. So after taking a pause Elyan continued.

"Don't worry, I have an app that eliminates all the entries containing obscene words before I check the rest. However, some of the words cannot be eliminated by the software, as some of them are not inappropriate when referring to biological functions of the pokemon, so obscene entries containing those specific obscene words do pass through the software. Also, most of the entries contain well known stuff or just garbage. But at least it is indoors and the heating works right now."

The mood kind of changed, neither Ash nor Serena knew what to say about it.

"You know… It's not that important really, it's just a job."

"Agnes and you seem to get along very well," Serena said. "Please don't be mad after I say this, but it seems like you like her."

Elyan took her remark as an insult, or at least he reacted as if it had been one.

"Oh yeah?" He said. "Well, it seems like you like her..." Just then he realized how little sense that made. "You know what, I'm sorry, you're right anyway I do like her. I'm very much in love with her."

"Have you told her about it?"

"Yeah, if you like her you should ask her to go out with you," Ash interjected. And Serena then laughed openly at his remark, for a little bit, just for herself.

"You think I haven't?" Elyan continued. "She has rejected me thrice. The only reason I keep asking her is that she says she likes me a bit, but neither her nor I are ready for a relationship. I'd say that's a bunch of nonsense, someone else would say she's leading me on, but the reality is she's dead serious about it. An uneducated mind would say she's a bit uptight. Anyway, once I get a good position, and a job that actually pays me, decent cash, and once I become mature enough, and once she respects me, and once I get my own place, maybe, then I'll ask her to marry me (again)."

"Is the job at the lab the one you want?" Serena asked.

"Well yeah, it's a job. What do you want?"

She gave a fleeting look at Ash. "Well, I used to say I wanted to make the world beautiful, but now I conform with making it less ugly."

"Is that so?" Elyan playfully replied. "Will you go around putting decorative flowers everywhere?"

"I guess I want to do something other than winning the Kalos showcase," Serena said, just as playfully as him.

"Fine, I am owned." Elyan said. "What about you Ash, what is your ultimate objective?"

"I want to become a pokemon master. Find every pokemon species I can find and learn all I can about them."

"You know some species haven't even been discovered, right?"

"I'm sorry Elyan," Serena said, because she could tell she had been a bit insensitive. "Your objective is very sweet, and I mean it in a nice way."

"I'm sorry too," Elyan said. "I shouldn't criticize your dreams, you're obviously more talented and capable than me."

"Have you thought about becoming a trainer?"

"Yes, when I was younger, I did try. I'm just not good at it."

"What are you talking about? Your parents are teachers, you have it in your blood."

"Good trainers don't become teachers Ash."

A shout was suddenly heard, coming from downstairs: "What did you say?"

"Nothing ma! Crap, they heard me," Elyan said as he pressed his cheeks with his hands. "I'll have to do something about it later, meh, whatever."

"But wouldn't you like to be a great trainer? I'm sure Agnes would go out with you then."

"Maybe, she is a big fan of Errol from our elite 4, but I just don't see how I could become good all of the sudden."

"You need a lot of time and effort, how about you travel with us?"

"I think I'm too old for that."

"No way."

"Would you really want me to travel with you?"

"Of course!"

"No, I really don't want to impose."

"You wouldn't, not at all," Serena said. "I don't think it's a good idea for two teenagers like us to travel all by ourselves anyway."

"I guess that's true, wait, no, I have a job."

"Come on," Ash said as he put his right fist in front of his chest. He was suddenly very excited. "Do you want to be doing that for the rest of your life?"

"Of course not, but I do want to have a job."

"There's other ways to work for professor Brutia, and I know you can do it Elyan, you're better than you think you are."

"Am I? Anyway, regardless. Thanks for the offer guys, it's very kind, but I don't think I can." 

"We understand," Serena said.

"Yeah, it is important to be ready to take on your next mission, and maybe you're not ready yet. But you will be."

"What are you talking about Ash?"

"Wait here, I want to show you something."

Ash walked out of the room, and a few moments later he walked back in carrying his backpack and a cautious smirk on his face. "Take a look at this," he said. Then he pulled Yvgeny's rather short but still dangerous sword out. "Do you remember Yvgeny from Nestan-Darejan? Who said the people from his region were sick but it turned out to be because they ate a lot of infected mareep? Well, after I have traveled all over Gudrut, I will travel to his region just to give this back to him."

"How did you get that through the airport?" Serena asked, quite shocked.

"Oh you know me, I can be quite sneaky."

"No, seriously Ash, how did you do it? That's worrying," Elyan added. He was just as shocked as Serena.

Ash didn't pay attention to him, instead he started swinging the sword rather carelessly all over the place, audibly cutting the wind. He then moved to strike one of the sandwiches, and with a precise hit managed to cut one of them in half. He then maneuvered his sword to put a cleanly cut half of the sandwich on top of the blade, and masterfully led it to his mouth.

"Wow! That was so cool," Serena said, and Pikachu, who was at that point still sleepy and tired, was reanimated by his trainer's prowess with the weapon, and he likewise praised Ash.

"What? No!" Elyan exclaimed. "That's really dangerous guys."

"Come on Elyan, I'll be careful," Ash said, before he swallowed the sandwich. "In the meantime, I'll make us of this, if I see fit."

Someone knocked on the barely open door. Instantly worried, Ash did his best to hide the sword on his back, slicing a good chunk of the hair from his right temple in the process.

"Hey guys!" Pryce said as he popped his head past the door. "Please, pay no attention to me, all the singing and dancing has made my stomach unruly, if you catch my drift. If you didn't, what I meant to say is that I need to evacuate, he he. Don't mind me I'll just go in the bathroom. Elyan's seat is perfect for my tushy."

Pryce nonchalantly made his way to Elyan's bathroom and closed the door behind him. The room fell silent.

"…Hey, do you want to check my dad's greenhouse?" Elyan solemnly brought forth.

"Yes please," Serena said.

Ash didn't reply, he just dropped Yvgeny's sword on the ground and went for the door.


	10. A Simple Guy Part 3

The guys headed outside through the back of the house, it was a bit chilly but not really cold. The bright sun was a warm and welcome help. Elyan's dad's huge greenhouse was very close to the house. They could see the vast green inside the see-through plastic walls covering the whole place. Elyan opened the door for them and a light breeze caressed their faces gently, and made them instantly attracted to the place. They went in, and didn't stop walking until they were right in the middle, completely surrounded by all kinds of plants of all sizes, trees and roots, healthy and nurtured green all around them.

Serena closed her eyes and breathed in the atmosphere. She identified many multifaceted aromas—all of them pleasant—which reached her nose and then filled her lungs.

"Check this out," Elyan said. Then he led them all the way to the far back of the greenhouse, where there was plenty of empty space, and the ground seemed ready and eager to be planted upon.

"This is my space, I can plant whatever I want here. Do you want to transplant some seeds?"

"Of course!" Ash cried.

"Yeah, me too," Serena said. "This place is awesome Elyan."

"Yeah, I know, it's probably my favorite place. I spend way too much time in here."

Elyan grabbed a seed tray from a table next to the see through wall at the back, then placed it down right next to a nice zone on the ground and waved at the guys to kneel down with him.

"These are ready to be planted," he said. Then he grabbed one of the seeds from the tray and looked at it closely. "Oran berries, all of them. You can plant a few of them if you want, and I'll save all of the berries that come out of it for when you come back. If you want to come back, of course."

Both Ash and Serena eagerly accepted his invitation and moved the ground around very softly before placing some seeds on it.

"I have to ask you again Elyan. Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Serena asked.

"I'm afraid I am," Elyan replied. "It's not that I don't want to go, it's just that I know I'm not good, regardless of how attractive your offer seems, and how awesome it would be to travel with you. But I have a good thing going here. Well, maybe it's not that good, but it's definitely a thing."

"Hey Elyan!" Ash shouted while next to a tree, a bit far from them. "What's this?"

"How did he get there so quickly?" Elyan asked Serena as they went over to him.

"Oh, you won't be surprised once you get to know him a bit better."

Ash was pointing at a berry tree which barely surpassed him in stature. A pink berry of giant proportions hung from one of its branches with difficulty.

"That's a pecha berry," Elyan casually replied.

"But why is it so big?"

"I don't know, it's probably an aberration, maybe it's two of them, I don't know. You can take it if you want, in fact grab as many as you want. They might come in handy for your trip."

Ash didn't quite listen to Elyan, he mainly kept staring at the over-sized berry, almost not wanting to disturb its exceptional existence, but without being able to leave it alone at the same time. He touched it with the tip of his finger, and upon contact the giant berry fell from the tree and hit him in the head. Serena was right next to him, she managed to catch the berry before it fell in the ground.

"Oh snap!" Elyan exclaimed.

"Are you okay Ash?" Serena asked.

Ash had no time to answer. As soon as the berry fell from his head and into Serena's hands, it broke in half, and then it started coming apart. It was quite a bizarre situation as it was, with the giant berry tearing itself apart, but the weirdness escalated when two eggs were revealed to have been inside the pecha berry. The three of them noticed the eggs, but none of them knew how to react. Ash barely managed to react in time. He held one egg on his hand, but sensed that the second one would slip past his reach.

"Serena! Please catch that one!" He screamed. And the tone of his voice helped Serena react just in time to drop the remnants of the berry and hold the egg safely on her hands. The pair sighed, meanwhile Elyan was speechless and dumbfounded. Ash and Serena stood right next to each other, analyzing the situation. They faced each other while holding the eggs, which touched, and then started hatching upon contact. It was quite an eerie scene. Ash had instantly accepted the event and was enthusiastically awaiting its resolution, and he had passed his eagerness onto Serena, who was likewise expectant and with a smile on her face.

The shells broke at the same time. Firstly, from Serena's egg, the top was separated from the bottom with a horizontal cut, and the top suddenly raised, as if it were am impromptu hat for the newborn pokemon inside. A soft and tender white little beast showed its small head and its blue nose, with a frozen drop hanging from its tip. It opened its eyes and blinked them adorably at Serena, who gasped from the barely bearable cuteness. The baby cubchoo moved its head and hit the egg on Ash's hand, revealing yet another furry baby with a blue nose on Ash's arms. Both Ash and Serena were ecstatic and full of joy. They exchanged looks at each other and at the newborn babies as they marveled at the miracle of life.

Meanwhile Elyan whispered some curse words to himself, and then started tearing apart every single berry he could grab from the trees. He then softly, gently, carved into every single one of them, hoping to find more eggs, being unsuccessful every single time.

"What's going on!" He cried out.

"Mine's a girl," Ash said, without minding Elyan's mad fit at all.

"Oh dear, really? Mine's a boy. How cute!" Serena added, likewise casually.

"Guys! Why aren't you freaking out? Haven't you realized what just happened? A pokemon hatched from a berry. Seriously, why aren't you surprised?"

"We are."

"No you're not, You've just accepted it like it happens every day, I mean look at you, you're already cuddling with them like they didn't come out of a berry! We have to kill them, it's a wicked enchantment man! I just know it."

"What!" Ash cried out.

"We are not killing them Elyan, are you crazy?" Serena said as she petted the jolly baby's belly with her index finger, quite incensed at Elyan.

"Okay fine. But, but you simply accepted it like it's nothing? Is stuff like this usual fare for you trainers? Or am I being pranked? Is Blaine behind this? You know he loves whoopie cushions right? And if you don't react surprised and kind of angry every time you sit on one of them, then he gets mad."

"Calm down Elyan, come take a look at the babies."

"Oh my God Ash, this is the best thing in the world."

"I know."

"Isn't he the cutest?"

"Okay, so this is how it is huh," Elyan said mischievously. "If you don't want to speak of this, then I'll find somebody who'll answer me!"

Elyan then ran out of the greenhouse like a madman, while Ash and Serena stayed right where they were, petting the babies. Ash raised the little baby cubchoo over his head.

"Pikachu, where are you?" He shouted. A moment later Pikachu popped his head over the greenery and went to meet his trainer. He climbed on top of Ash and looked at the cubchoo with a visible smile on his red-dotted face. Meanwhile Serena raised her baby cubchoo over her head too, and then reached his little blue nose to her own and cuddled with him.

"You know this is actually quite unusual, I have to say," she said.

"I agree, I've never heard of anything like this happening before, but who cares, they are the cutest pokemon ever, aren't they Pikachu?"

Pikachu wasn't able to answer. Elyan hurried to them holding his dad's arm.

"Explain this to me, please," he said.

His dad said nothing, but he did start inspecting the zone. He looked at the tree, knelt down right next to the residues of the peculiar berry, while holding his hairy chin with his hand, and then he got up.

"Well… I have no idea," he said. "Cubchoos and Beartic are pretty common in Gudrut."

"That's not good enough for me dad. Can you at least explain why these guys have taken it so lightly? You yourself seem rather unmoved by it."

"I'm not sure what happened Elyan. If I had to forward a guess, I'd say, that a particularly smart beartic somehow sneaked in here inconspicuously, perhaps while in danger, and placed its eggs somewhere around here, I guess inside a berry somehow? Perhaps on the still barely germinated root? Nah, I don't think so, I guess inside the berry is my best guess."

"I don't know what I believe the least, that they came from a berry or that these guys seem unmoved by that."

"What should we do with them?" Ash asked.

"I'm also not sure about that," Elyan's dad said. "They seemed to have latched on to the two of you almost immediately." As he said this, Ash's cubchoo literally sank her tender claws into his chest. Serena herself was not willing to release her cubchoo's belly from the hold of her hands.

"Perhaps, seeing as you are trainers, as well as the first ones the cubchoos saw, if you'd be gracious enough to raise them we'd be very thankful. Don't feel obliged to do so however, I'm sure Juliette and I would be able to acclimate them to us in no time."

"I very much want for her to be part of my team," Ash said.

"Yeah, you won't be able to take him away from me," Serena seconded him.

"Very well then, they are all yours."

"So that just happened," Elyan said. "And it seems like you're used to things like that happening to you, whereas all I have to wait for the rest of this day is for an old guy to get out of my bathroom, and to avoid walking in at the wrong time, so as not to encounter him as he comes out, so as not to hear his 'do not go in there' joke for the thousandth time. Dad, I'm leaving."

"Okay, are you going to the store? Can you get me a lunala bar? Or maybe two, you know what, bring me too please."

"No, I'm leaving, I'm out of here. I'm going traveling with these guys."

"What? Nice one. What? But what about your job?"

"Screw that, no, but seriously."

"Well, I wish you didn't. Maybe wait and think about it for a while?"

"No. To be honest with you, I've thought about quitting my pseudo-job a lot, certainly every time the word 'nipple' appears on my computer screen, written by Chad, or Shane, or Jeff or Nate, always a new and happy trainer ready to triumph in life. Those kids don't know the difference between glands and muscles dad, they really don't, and they are out there being researchers and all, that's worrying! I'm dead set on it."

"Listen, if you're so 'dead set' on it like you say, if that's the case, then I'll present myself to fill the vacant you'll leave for the internship tomorrow first thing in the morning."

"Oh crap. I guess I can't go back on it. Who cares, this feels right, you guys, Ash and Serena, you're doing it. Unlike my dad and his plants, unlike my mom and her baking. Unlike Agnes and her books, unlike me hosting old guys and filtering obscenities, you guys are doing it! Can I still go traveling with you?"

"Yeah sure," Ash said.

"Alright!" Elyan celebrated.

Agnes suddenly walked in. "Hey, Juliette went to the store and I didn't want to be left alone with Blaine," she said. "He's alright, but I just didn't want to listen to him anymore."

"Hey Agnes, guess what, I'm a pokemon… uh… traveler, now," Elyan said.

"What?"

"I'm leaving with Ash and Serena, I'm going places, literally."

"Wow," Agnes said, not highly amused. "I thought you were at least stable, what? You think you'll become the next league champion or something?"

"I have to be honest with you, that's not the reaction I was looking for," Elyan said. "But, doesn't matter, I'll show you."

"What will you show me, do you even have a pokemon?"

"No."

"So, what are you thinking?"

"…I don't know."

"You'll get one in no time, I promise," Ash said nonchalantly. He reassured Elyan, who opened his eyes a little bit more.

"See, man, we're doing it."

"What do you know about training?" Agnes asked again. She seemed annoyed all of the sudden.

"…I know all about it, I must," Elyan said. "My parents are teachers after all, I have it in my blood. You'll see, I'll come back better than I left, when I leave. When are we leaving guys?"

"Tomorrow morning I guess," Ash said. Serena nodded. "For the Maisoram gym."

"Yeah, what they said," Elyan said, very decisively.


	11. The Normal Gym Part 1

A day passed and then it was the early morning again, and Ash was ready to officially start yet another journey through a foreign land. He had done it numerous times before, and if he somehow found out that he would do it many more times in the future, he'd only be delighted. The beginning was one of his favorite parts, if not his absolute favorite. This time he, as usual, could taste the shared sense of yearning for adventure in the air; the sun, shining brightly above him and his friends, unaccompanied by any sort of condensations, showcased their eagerness with warmth and light. It was him, Serena, Elyan and his parents, outside Elyan's house, right by the front door.

His parents had reacted to Elyan's decision to quit his internship with preoccupation, and a desire for their son to reconsider his seemingly reckless choice. But the more Elyan thought about what his stay would signify—tending to crazy old men with a penchant for the performing arts, as well as scrolling through walls of text written by children, which more often than not turned out to be complete nonsense—the more he realized he had to get out of there. And so with his then intractable willpower he managed to convince his parents to let him go. In the end it turned out to be less difficult than he had thought it would be, and so he had their full support. His mom even volunteered herself to take them all the way to the city in the small truck that they had, which regularly served to transport plants and berries. This time said truck would likewise serve to transport life, although a different kind of life, which instead of taking a spot on the ground to remain ingrained, would be allowed to roam free, to wherever it chose and whenever it chose to do so.

Elyan's dad prepared the vehicle, then hugged his son and wished him well on his journey. It would be Elyan's mom at the wheel and Serena by her side, and Ash, Pikachu and Elyan on the back. They hopped in and got ready for the trip, their backpacks full of both important and unimportant gadgets and food occupied as much space as their bodies, but it didn't matter because, not only would the trip to the city be a short one, but they—or at least Ash and Serena—were used to a little bit of discomfort when traveling. What's more, even the versatile Ash welcomed the lift wholeheartedly, as he knew perfectly well that he'd have more than one chance to walk until exhaustion during the journey.

Elyan was the last one to get in the truck. He was a late person anyway, but this time in particular he wanted to be completely sure he wasn't forgetting anything important, and even though he wouldn't admit it, he still had some doubts about leaving so suddenly, although he knew it was the right choice for him.

He found Pryce on his way out of his room, wearing slippers and a bathrobe, looking really pleased with himself.

"Hey Pryce," Elyan said, "I'm sorry I won't be here when you return to Johto.

"What are you talking about?" Pryce replied. "I'm staying here."

"Who's going to take care of the gym though?"

"Don't care, not my responsibility."

"...Um, it is actually."

"What did you say boy?" Pryce asked, with a stern inflection that signaled how he didn't actually want Elyan to answer but to instead be quiet. "I couldn't hear you," he continued, stoically yet kind of furious.

"It is your main responsibility actually."

"Ugh!" Pryce then lost his cool in a very childish manner. "Get out of my room!" he exclaimed.

"What are you talking about? This is my room."

"Not anymore."

"What?"

"That's right, you're leaving boy, and this is my territory now."

"This is my room Pryce, I think it's time for you to leave… besides, my parents would never just give you my room."

"What if I rent it?"

Elyan's eyes widened. He was very distressed all of the sudden, and had no answer for Pryce as he continued talking.

"That's right boy. You've been letting me live here for free, not knowing that I'm ready to pay your parents a very robust amount of money to let me stay, in this cold paradise. I have lots of money, and they will probably send you some of it. You'll use all of it, a bunch of it, and you'll buy whatever you want with it, and while you do it you won't be able to think of anything other than me, releasing countless evacuations triggered by copious amounts of granola, right in your precious toilet."

"My parents won't allow it!"

"Leave your parents out of this. Now it's only between you and I. What do you have to defend yourself boy? As I said before I have all of my pokemon with me. What do you have?"

Elyan was speechless for a second. "…I …I'll get many pokemon, and I'll come back just to teach you a lesson."

"Ha, you have nothing to threaten me. You have no pokemon, and on top of that there's your frail and insignificant presence. That girl whom you seem to fancy, Agnes, she won't even notice you're gone. That's right, I've noticed; I might be old but I'm not blind, and even if I were blind I still would've noticed because you're not subtle at all. Doesn't matter, because your absence won't be felt around the house."

"…Do you really think I'm frail and insignificant?"

"Yes. Listen, I'm well aware I am a complete jerk, and I enjoy disappointing children. Why do you think I became a gym leader? Because I enjoy being around kids? Ha, no way. I'm as good at defeating children as I am at spitting out bars, I'm so good I've been doing it for almost fifty years with no sign of stopping any time soon, except, for this vacation, which I'm very keen on extending indefinitely. So get that through that head of yours, this is my place now, and if you have something to say about it, then I'll be waiting right here, in my room."

"So that's how it is huh …you'll see. When I come back here… you'll all see. I'll defeat you, and I'll throw you out of my room myself."

"Very well then. I'll be waiting for you right here with my nigh invulnerable pokemon, my almost fifty years of experience and my healthy intestinal transit. Off you go boy."

Pryce accompanied Elyan to the door, of his room, then dastardly closed it right on his face. Elyan was smiling subtly, with his gaze lost, yet resolute. He was ready to take Pryce up on his challenge, like never before in his life, he felt eager to prove him wrong. Elyan grabbed his backpack, it was very heavy and he had trouble lifting it, so he dragged it downstairs before he put it on his back, just to put on a good face for the people outside; or rather, to mask his frail physical condition.

Outside, Elyan was surprised to discover Agnes waiting for him. She had her hands behind her back and a very serious expression on her face. Out of all the people Elyan was going to leave behind, at least temporarily, she was the one he would miss the most, and he had no problem admitting it.

"Are you actually leaving?" Agnes asked with an overtly skeptic tone.

"Yes, it's not a joke."

"Why?"

"Because, I want to prove to… myself, that I can do it. I know it's difficult," Elyan said. Then he grabbed Agnes's shoulder. "I know you're really going to miss me, and I'm going to miss you too, but don't worry, I'll come back soon enough, and I hope you'll be ready to witness what I will have become."

"Right, well okay then. Frankly I think you'll be back pretty soon, probably tomorrow, and the first thing you'll do is go to the lab and beg to get your job back."

"Again, it's not really what I would want to hear right now, but at least you're honest. The soft bigotry of your lack of faith in me is endearing, and frankly, kind of inspiring."

"That's, not what I meant, but, if you want to take it that way then whatever. Listen…" Agnes revealed a blue cap that she was holding behind her. "I think you should have this, your skin can't take Gudrut's benevolent sun."

She then gave the cap to Elyan and he put it on immediately afterwards, then nodded firmly. Then he opened his arms.

"I guess we should hug now," he said.

"Okay."

He closed his eyes and went for a hug, which was returned quasi-reluctantly by Agnes a few seconds later. It lasted an uncomfortable amount of time, at least for anyone watching. Then it ended and they had nothing else to say to each other, so Elyan just turned back and got in the back of the truck, with Ash and Pikachu. They smiled at him and then both of them gave him a thumbs up, which Elyan, still filled with doubt, really needed. Elyan's mom turned the engine on and they left the house behind as Agnes raised her open hand and watched them leave. It had begun.

"I'll destroy you old man," Elyan whispered to himself.

"What was that?" Ash asked.

"Nothing!"


	12. The Normal Gym Part 2

There was a cool breeze blowing, which reminded everyone that the warm weather they were experiencing was more or less an anomaly. Fall had just begun, and it was about to get colder. However it didn't matter that much, because the difference from the rest of the year was only barely tangible, and it was understood that the local climate was, if nothing else, part of the challenge. The road became increasingly steep as they went along, and the weather turned colder accordingly. Soon after departing the group found themselves traveling across many hills filled with tall trees, which along with the big mountains that seemed to pose themselves all around them, prevented them from taking a good look at the city hiding past them. Although the beautiful scenery full of green more than made up for the hamper.

Neither Ash nor Serena had thought about how the region could be so beautiful a sight, and so quiet, and so peaceful. They found themselves crossing through a narrow, very picturesque road with uniform lines of tall trees at either side of them, which went right through the mountains. Some of the branches from the trees went well above them and momentarily hid them from the morning sun. The scenery felt full of life, and yet, it was completely silent, albeit in a very soothing way. Perhaps the lingering pokemon were still asleep, or maybe even they were aware of the embellishing effect that the soothing silence had on the land, and were therefore keen on maintaining it. Soon after more white noise became evident, the trees shook and swayed and the ground likewise felt busy, and that along with the tiny white fence that separated the green from the road made the scenery all the more charming. Ash was able to notice a flock of swanna beating their white wings gracefully as they crossed through the sky, and he was also able to notice a small deerling crossing through the land at the side of him, like a bolt of contrasting pink light dashing through the deep green.

"How beautiful," Serena said, with a tone that showcased how enchanted she was by the land.

"Indeed," Elyan's mom replied. "There are eight roads just like this one, all of which lead into the city. There are woods all around it, it's basically hidden within a forest.

"I want to cross through all eight of them!" Ash said.

"You can. In here you can do whatever you want."

"Right," Elyan said, sort of cuttingly.

"I mean it son. It is said, that when you cross through the woods that lead into Maisoram City, you leave behind all of the restraints that were holding you back. The trees take a hold of all your worries and fears and release you from them. So when you come out and reach the city, you arrive as a completely free being, ready to accomplish whatever you desired more than anything."

"That sounds lovely," Serena said.

"It does sound lovely, sort of poetic, but the people of Maisoram do take that to heart. I personally came here during my youth, to discover what I would really want to do if I could do anything."

"Really?" Elyan asked playfully, with a subtly mischievous tone. "And what did you decide to do mom?"

"What do you think? I chose to marry your father and have you."

"Oh." Elyan felt immediately owned. "Well, that sounds kind of ironic, doesn't it?" he said with a more humble tone.

"It doesn't matter, it's good that you want to come here Elyan. And you too, Ash and Serena. You have your whole life ahead of you, and you can choose to do whatever you wish. But more than that, the opportunity that you have in here, with the freedom that you have, is to accomplish your goals."

Elyan's mom then dramatically stopped the car on the side of the road. She pointed right at her son's face. Elyan was more or less petrified, internally ridden with crippling anxiety.

"You have the freedom to accomplish whatever it is that you set out to do. Will you do it?"

Elyan was sweating. "Oh man… can you ask me later?"

"Yes," she left him off the hook with ease.

Then she turned the engine on and kept on driving, in full silence. The road kept going downwards and the mountains were soon left behind, and then, just as the sun placed itself right at the very top of the sky, the skyline of the city faintly became visible over the trees. It was quite a sight. It was a very big city, and had many tall buildings laid together seemingly far away. The city encompassed more space on their view as they carried on. Many buildings of different sizes and colors, fresh and inviting, with an atmosphere somehow just as serene and quiet as the woods they'd just left behind, laid before them, all neatly organized. The trees at either side of them progressively disappeared in a rather delightful way; the last green remnants directed their eye-sights right at the heart of the city, like green arrows made out of leaves pointing at their destination. Ash and Serena found it quite interesting, how even inside the big city there were plenty of green spaces easily discernible, even from afar. Elyan's mom cleared her throat. Then she started.

"So, basically, Maisoram City is divided into two zones. One is the actual city, you know, where the actual Maisoram citizens live and go to work, located to our left. And the one on the right, where I'm taking you, is the busiest, most visited place in all of the region, where the pokemon gym is located. As you can probably guess it's the best part of town, with myriads of trainers, tourists, locals, hobos— yes, hobos, because, as I've told you before, people get a good deal of freedom here, and there are many open spaces acclimated for trainers to stay in, and so because of that a lot of hobos also stay there, but don't worry, the vast majority of them are very friendly and some of them are though opponents—you'll see."

The road ultimately led to a bifurcation right at the entrance of the city, and Elyan's mom predictably turned to the right. And in no time they reached their destination. The guys caught a great view of the gym as they cruised through what was most certainly the zone's most hectic street. In front of them, at the visible end of the street, a giant cube seemingly made entirely out of glass—reflective glass—imposed majestically, parrying the rays from the sun and shooting them indiscriminately at every direction. It must have constituted a driving hazard; or a hazard in general, perhaps. However, it did look especially striking, as if the peculiar building held a heavenly aura around it. The gaze almost demanded not to be stared at for too long, and it would've been harmful to the eyes anyway.

The truck turned left and into another street, and the group silently left the gym behind them. They cruised through many stores with vividly colored signs, many trainers walking side by side with their pokemon on every sidewalk and corner, and a vast green space to the side of them, with many pine trees, right in the middle of the vicinity. There were some small huts made out of wood placed around the trees, and some of the streets were closed off for vehicles as they were overtaken by more small huts and tents. The place was really overrun by trainers, and it seemed like they could genuinely place themselves and their stuff wherever they wanted to. Ash and Serena were so distracted examining the place that they failed to notice their actual destination until they were right in front of it. A castle, two stories tall, give or take, with its faithfully accurate front made out of pure gray concrete, with two pillars on the front corners, and a large wooden door. It was located at a corner on one of the calmer streets, although it was not that far from the madding crowds, and the top of the glass cube was clearly visible.

"What the heck?" Serena asked, "What's this now?"

"It's a castle," Elyan replied casually. "We'll be staying here while we are in Maisoram."

"No way! You're joking!" Ash joyously exclaimed just as he stood up.

"Nope. This is my cousin's place."

"That's right," a random dude who suddenly appeared, said. "And I am in fact Elyan's cousin. But that's not all—no sir, for I can also confirm that you will indeed be staying here tonight, and perhaps tomorrow night too, and so on and so forth, for as long as you wish. That is what I, as the self-appointed king of this mighty castle, which is also my home, humbly offer to you, Elyan's friends. Hey, how's it going, my name is Carlton, nice to meet you."

The guy was wearing a fluffy yellow hoodie, shorts and boots. But perhaps the most interesting part of his outfit was the golden crown that he had on his head, which did not go well with the rest of his attire, but was of course in tune with his propriety. He enthusiastically shook Ash and Serena's hands; Ash returned the handshake with the same vivacious disposition. Afterwards the wooden door at the front of the castle opened up. The very top of it was slowly let down by releasing the two chains holding it at either side. And immediately after the door fully fell to the ground a squad of delibird, red and white, plump and jolly, marched all the way to the truck to take care of the backpacks and such.

Inside the castle it was a bit chilly, and the only light came from torches hanging from the walls. It was big, spacious, rough, but enjoyable in a novel way. There were a couple of large couches and a big rug, all of red velvet, and there was a very large painting on the wall at the back, of Carlton standing at the top of a hill, with his hands on his hips and his right foot on top of a protruding rock. He was wearing the same exact outfit he had on, obviously including the crown. He had his eyebrows raised in a snobbish way, and his lips were way out of his face. All things considered, it was a fine painting.

Another guy, all dressed in white, came out from one of the rooms with two Mr. mime behind him. The pair of dapper pokemon stood behind the guy with their arms crossed, as he too stood silently, waiting to be introduced.

"This is my chef, Kevin," Carlton said. Chef Kevin nodded in a very snobbish way. "You may tell him your favorite dishes so that he can prepare them."

"Excuse me," Serena said, visibly frustrated, "there's something I don't quite understand."

"Yes?"

"What is this place?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like, how can you have this in the middle of the city?"

"Ah, well it's quite a story. In fact, it's the story of Carlton's dynasty. Ahem… So, Carlton's dynasty began like two years ago, when Mr. Rogers, a local baker and ex-league-champion, was feuding with Mr. Sage, who had a berry stand right across Mr. Roger's bakery. Also, Mr. Roger's bakery was laid right here where my castle now stands majestically. Also, Mr. Sage was also an ex-champion. Anyway, Mr. Sage died of old age, and then Mr. Rogers kind of lost interest in the place, as he had no one else of his age to feud with. So he decided to cash his pension and move to Cousonux, by the sea. That's when I stepped in, and with the money that I'd made during my travels, which I then invested wisely, as well as a life-long desire to have a castle, I bought this place, and then I built a castle. And so, that's the story of the beginning of Carlton's dynasty, aka my dynasty."

"Right, so you bought the land from Mr. Rogers and built a castle?"

"Indeed. Of course after I built it a bunch of posers suddenly decided that they wanted to have a castle too. Everybody knew I came up with the idea first, and this is the original the first castle built in Maisoram, and even so they thought they were being original. They also started building fortresses and what not, and some of them actually fell down because they didn't know how to do it; it was a big deal—idiots. Anyway, I managed to fend them off and so they had to build their castles a good distance away from mine, unfortunately you can still see the tops if you raise your heads high enough. Doesn't matter, my castle is your castle, there's plenty of rooms, literally. And I have servants too so don't worry about food and stuff—they aren't actual servants I mean, I put out ads and all. They can quit if they want to but they don't because I'm a fair ruler. And they also like, you know, the flair of working in a castle, as you can see with Kevin—so what are you going to do right now?"

"I want to check out the gym," said Ash, obviously. "I want to get a hold of the land as soon as I can, and prepare myself for all of the matches that I'm going to get myself into."

"What? We just got here though," Elyan said. "Can't we just chill for a bit in here?"

"Elyan, no. If you don't start right at the beginning you're already too late. You don't even have pokemon yet."

Elyan looked extremely offended, to an exaggerated extent. And he was also kind of angry. "Okay, I'm going to get one. I just mean to say that we just got here and we can take it easy for a bit." He laughed once, it was obvious no one was on his side. "Okay fine, I'll just get a few things done, and I'll join you right away."

"Great, we'll wait for you there."

Ash and Serena, already prepared and ready to move, left for the gym. Elyan turned to his cousin.

"Can you believe them, they have no chill whatsoever," he said.

"They are absolutely right Elyan," Carlton replied. "Do you think I would have been able to build my castle if I had started by chilling for a bit?"

Elyan wanted some validation, which he didn't obtain, and so he was visibly disappointed.

"You know what, you're right, I'm going to walk out the door and get me six pokemon right now, and I'm going to train them and take on the league tomorrow first thing in the morning. You'll see, you'll all see! Especially Pryce!" He then walked out of the door, visibly upset.

"That's the spirit!" Carlton finalized.


	13. The Normal Gym Part 3

The gym wasn't far from Carlton's castle, and yet it took the guys a disproportionately long time to get there. It had all to do with the unusual scenery, downtown in the afternoon—people scattered all over the place, a completely different show on every corner. A couple of hobos and some pignite heating themselves around a trash can on fire, a shirtless kid in shorts and sandals training with his jellicent right in the middle of a street that wasn't even closed. Nobody batted an eye about any of it, both Serena and Ash thought it was awesome.

There was a big crowd gathered right in front of the giant cube made out of glass. And it was impossible for them to crawl their way in, some kids were already trying that and it wasn't working, there were just too many of them. So much for getting the lay of the land, thought Serena. They'd have to wait for a better opportunity to get in. But Ash thought differently, he had seen enough to device a plan; he had already deduced how things went on there, it was always full; it would stay like that. He grabbed Serena's hand and went around the building with her, to the back of it. There were a few more people there, obviously trainers, but there was a huge space left between the backdoor of the building and the street, and all the trainers had to wait on the sidewalk. They sneaked their way around without thinking about it twice, there had to be another entrance. There was a garage door at the back, and it was half-hidden behind some carefully placed bushes; but it was also guarded by two guys. Nevertheless, Ash's hunch was proven correct when a small door was opened. A combination of the sun reflecting on the glass and some more bushes hid it well, to the point that neither of them would have noticed it if it hadn't been opened. But, as it happened, a young dude with an unusual bobbed haircut, with bangs, came out carrying a bike and a sneaky smile on his face, which changed into a frown as soon as he saw the jolly pair of Ash and Serena.

"Hey! How are you? My name is Ash Ketchum and I'm looking for the gym leader."

"Are you looking to set up a match?" the guy replied, with a nasal voice filled with palpable condescension."

"Yes I am, I just got here from…"

"I'm so sorry guys," the guy cut Ash off, "We're very busy right now, but thank you for visiting us. Please come back next week and wait at the front for a scheduling. Have a rad day."

The guy didn't wait for a response and promptly hopped on his bike, and stormed out of the place.

"Next week?" Ash cried out. And then the small door closed and was audibly locked from the inside.

Meanwhile, Elyan got distracted on his way to the gym, when among the maddening crowd he happened to notice a familiar red haired boy walking into a store. This mild peculiarity amused him enough to investigate further. It was both the elusive red hair and the familiarity, which made Elyan curious. His hunch was proven correct, when he identified Ritchie from Kanto, whom he had met back at Ash's house. Their eyes met at the same time, and they approached each other in a way that wasn't actually awkward at all. There was no reason for it to be so after all.

"Hey Elyan! What are you doing here in Gudrut?" Ritchie gleefully asked.

"Are you serious?" Elyan replied. "I'm from here, don't you remember? It was a whole deal back at Ash's house on Pallet Town."

"Yeah, I mean I know he's around here somewhere, that's why I came. I'm ready to get back on the road, which happens to be the same road my old rival is going through at this very moment. You know Ash and I both participated in the Indigo League at the same time, and we had a memorable match on the leg of sixteen. Man, those were the days… but life keeps going, am I right?"

"Yeah sure, did you really not remember I was from here?"

"No."

As they were talking, a trio of adults walked into the store, and their presence silenced the place completely, in a second. Even the incidental music, which was really corny, stopped all of the sudden. They were three out of four members of the local Elite 4, a group of trainers who were the best of the best of the region, apart from the champion, of course. As soon as he noticed them, Elyan stopped listening to Ritchie, who, after spending a few seconds trying to regain Elyan's attention, gave up and looked at the same direction as him. Two men and a woman. One of them, wearing sunglasses indoors and sporting a really cool haircut: pitch black, straight, with a stylized side fringe to the right. He was also wearing an ubercool brown leather jacket. The other one, more modestly dressed in brown clothes, more loose and less sharp, and yet, with an intimidating presence. He had peculiar orange hair which couldn't be kept inside his weird, pointy brown beanie, neither from the back, nor from the front, where it came out onto his forehead, also styled to the side. And the woman, the most elegant and imposing of the trio, with a dismal air emanating from her. Her body was fully covered by a robust crimson coat, very fluffy—perhaps too much. Her skin was white as snow, and her voluminous hair, which she had parted in the middle and tied into a refined bun, pitch-black, just like her eyes and the lipstick that she was wearing.

"Who are they?" Ritchie innocently asked, earning Elyan's incredulous stare.

"The members of the elite 4, aka the most powerful trainers around. The one with the glasses is Wreck, fighting specialist. The other one is Errol, specializes in dragons. And the gracefully creepy woman is Morana, dark type specialist."

"Hold on a second, either I can't count right or there is a member missing."

"Yeah, he's called Ghost, nobody knows where he is or what he looks like except for the champion. And because of that nobody cares about him."

"And who's the champion?"

"Right now? I'm not entirely sure, until like yesterday I wasn't really into training and stuff. I think her name is Sigrun. Anyway, come on Ritchie, let's go meet them."

Both ginger guys approached the group with the tense aura around them, very cautiously. They were approaching celebrities after all.

"Hey guys, sorry to bother you, we're big fans," Elyan said.

The trio nodded lightly, and uttered one word replies with forced smiles on their faces. Some other trainers inside the store approached them too, although the trio seemed not to mind it too much. They were obviously used to it by then, and it must have been considered part of their job.

"What brings you to Maisoram?" asked a random trainer.

"We have a meeting with the champion," Wreck, the one wearing the glasses, answered for the group. "She just defended her title, after all."

"Right on," someone else said. "Do you get along well with Sigrun?"

"Oh, you know, we get by." Everybody had a light laugh, which required only one exhalation per person.

"That's great, you know, I used to watch a cartoon about one of your predecessors, do you remember Ricky the steel master?" Elyan asked, killing the vibe. And he continued half-consciously digging himself deeper. "Those were the days man. Why don't you guys have a cartoon about the current iteration of the Elite 4?" By the time Elyan was done, everyone was done with him, including Ritchie.

This time, a rather incensed Errol, dragon specialist, answered. "Are you serious kid?"

"I'm eighteen."

"…Ricky's long gone. Now's our time. And we don't want to have a silly morning cartoon for children—those times have passed."

"They sure have, can I get your autograph?" Elyan innocently asked, with a smile on his face.

After some silence, Errol replied "…Maybe later. Hey, I have an idea, why don't you ask your friend steel mister Ricky about it? I bet he'd love to give you his autograph. Now, if you don't mind, we have some business to attend to."

One by one, the members of the trio walked away and then out of the store, leaving everyone inside right where they were, angrily staring at Elyan.

Meanwhile, Ash had tried to chase the condescending dude on the bike. However, he failed, and lost complete sight of him at a park which just so happened to be close to the store where Elyan had just made an ass of himself. Ash was sweating, as he turned his head violently to all directions. His heart was pounding fast and hard, and the palpitations could be sensed in his eyes, which were also veering off all over the place. It was over, and his arduous sprint had been for nothing. Suddenly an equally agitated Serena grabbed his arm, and promptly told him to calm down. Then she wiped the sweat off of her forehead, and, without lowering her hand, Serena pointed at a bench nearby. The guy with the bob haircut was sitting there, angrily trying to clean a stain off of his red plaid shirt, while he held a melting ice cream cone on his other hand. Ash wasted no time to approach the guy again.

"Hey! Please don't freak out," Ash said, showing his open palms. He was covered in sweat, and because he was still reeling from the sprint, he had the eyes of a freak. "We met at the back of the gym, do you happen to know the gym leader?"

"Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Today I'm not quite sure," the guy answered without making eye contact.

"It's you, isn't it?" Serena asked.

"Yeah, the name's Norris, I specialize in normal types, like the two you."

"Can we have a match?" Ash asked.

"A match? I told you just minutes ago to come by next week to schedule one, and yet you are here now, while my ice cream melts away. But sure, I'll have a match with you. How do you feel about three months from now?"

Ash sudden smile disappeared. Both he and Serena suddenly hated the guy, Norris.

"How do you feel about having a battle, right here, right now?" Ash asked.

"I feel peppery with a hint of mint. Not gonna happen," Norris replied.

"I just want a chance to get the badge, just a match."

"Just a match, everybody wants just a match. Everybody wants me to hang out with them and have adventures before I give them just one match, everyone wants to be friends with me just so I can be there when they become the champion and I can say 'Hey man, you've come a long way, congratulations.' But guess what, that's not the way it works, no one is the center of the universe, only one out of hundreds of thousands of trainers will become the champion. It could be literally anyone, doesn't actually have to be good, just have a ton of luck. Everyone else's journey will be for something else, but not to win the league in a blaze of glory. Now would you be so kind to leave me on my own so I can finish this sugary secretion running down my hand in peace?"

"It's just one match," Serena added.

Norris did a perfect eye-roll, then he breathed in a bunch of air, rather violently, visibly inflating his chest.

"Is it? How do you feel about zero matches?"

"That'd be unacceptable," Ash replied. "I deserve one."

"…Wow, hey everybody! We have a tireless determinator here. Doesn't matter, you'll have to accept that there will be no match for you now, because there's no way in hell I'll battle you after what you've done to me, now that my hand is… wait! I have a better idea—better than just watching you be consumed with impotence, I'll let her…" Norris pointed at Serena. "What is she your girlfriend? You know what don't respond I don't actually care. I'll let her challenge me." He then pointed at Ash. "For your badge. If she beats me, then you'll get the blank badge for free, but if she loses, you will never challenge me, and you'll have to stop bothering me, forever."

"Is that even allowed?"

"Yes, yes it is. You know why?"

"Why?"

"Because I'm the freaking gym leader! And I can do whatever I want. What is it? Don't you trust her to win? You think it's all about you, don't you?"

Ash stood like a statute, with his sight lost, for a few seconds. Then he regained his composure.

"It's a deal!" he exclaimed, instantly worrying Serena.

"Great, tonight, I'll be waiting for you. I gotta go before someone else sees me and I end up in a similar situation again. You're lucky you were the first one to approach me, now I'll be even more condescending to the next person that asks me for a challenge today."

As soon as Norris left Serena told Ash she wasn't ready for a battle, but Ash rebuffed her, raising a fist.

"Nonsense, we have plenty of time to train."

"But I only brought Braixen with me."

"That's not true, what about Cubchoo? Come on, let's see what he can do."

Still hesitant, Serena called her cubchoo out and held it on her arms, he was basically a new-born after all. After a few seconds of doubt, she placed him on the ground, and helped him to stand still on two legs. From Ash's side Pikachu stepped forward, however, as soon as he got close to Cubchoo, to begin some friendly training, Cubchoo fell chin-first right on the ground. And it was soon evident that he wasn't qualified to fight yet. It was not like Serena wanted him to fight anyway.

"Well, that's disappointing." Ash said, becoming like a statue again. "It's fine, don't worry, I'll think of something else. Norris can't just refuse to have an official match with me, even if I have to wait for it. Yes, there must be a way, someone who takes care of stuff like that. Seriously don't worry guys, I'll look into it."

Ash then ran away with Pikachu, leaving Serena worried and nervous with the baby cubchoo on her hands. But she knew deep down that there was no alternative, Norris specifically said he wouldn't ever challenge Ash if she lost. So that was it, that night. And she was going to lose.

As Ash ran mindlessly around the city, he failed to notice Elyan coming out of the store very sad and disappointed. Elyan tried shouting and raising his arms to get his attention, but it didn't work, and so he chose to chase after Ash, giving up just a few streets later, thoroughly exhausted. Without noticing Elyan ended up in a bad part of town, just a bit too far away from the hectic zone. Everything for some reason seemed darker and duller. From an alleyway came a rattling noise, but there were only shadows, and Elyan dared not to get closer to investigate. Instead he wanted to run away, and he kind of did, slowly. However, more noises came from the alleyway, and just as he turned to make sure nothing had come out of it, a giant shadow condensed itself and went for him. Elyan screamed and ran but the thing quickly caught up to him, and landed right at the top of his head. He felt a light pressure, however as he was still wearing the blue cap that Agnes had gifted him he couldn't really discern what it was. There was only the big shadow poised right above his own shadow, on the pavement. It filled him with fright.

Slowly and very carefully, Elyan somehow managed to make his way back to the store, and felt instant relief when he found Ritchie sitting on the bench right outside on the sidewalk.

"Hey Elyan, nice mandibuzz," Ritchie said nonchalantly.

"What? What are you talking about, help me!"

"With what?"

"There's something on top of me, help!"

"Yeah, it's a mandibuzz, it's pretty cool."

"Do something Ritchie!"

"Why? It seems fine, just chilling on top of your head."

Elyan managed to catch his reflection on the front window of the store, he was horrified. An alive pile of dark feathers, tall and wide, with a pink blur at the top that was disturbing and hard to look at. Also on the window he noticed a police officer walking right behind him.

"Officer! Help! There's a mandibuzz on my head!"

"What?" asked the officer

"What do I do?"

"Has it hurt you?"

"…um, well, I guess not, but that's not the point."

"The protocol says we shouldn't disturb it."

"What? So I'm supposed to keep it on my head?"

"Yes, just chill out and relax for a bit. It seems like the mandibuzz doesn't want to hurt you, so it's best if you just wait until it wants to leave. It shouldn't be long."

"You have to be kidding me. How do you build a castle if all you do is chill and relax all the time?"

The officer was confused by Elyan's question, so he just ignored him, seeing as he saw nothing wrong. "Just don't bother the pokemon, it will fly away at some point," he said. Then he just walked away.

"Man, what am I supposed to do now?"

"What the officer said, just relax for a bit and the mandibuzz will fly away soon enough."

"Easy for you to say."

"Just try to ignore it, is there something else bothering you? Perhaps something not having anything to do with the mandibuzz on your head?"

"Um, well, there is actually. Why do you think was up with the elite 4? They were kind of mean, I just wanted an autograph."

"Maybe it's your general demeanor Elyan. You're just not an objectively fun guy. But that's okay, you have to be yourself, even if your self is a boringly bland vanilla dude."

"That's not true, what? What do you mean?"

"Well why did you ask them about that cartoon starring a guy no one cares about? That was stupid."

"Excuse me, steel master Ricky was himself a renowned member of the elite 4. Anyway, how do I go about changing my demeanor and all?"

"I told you, you don't have to change your demeanor or your personality, you ought simply to be yourself and people will love you for who you are."

"But didn't you say that some people are inherently boring? If there's something wrong why wouldn't you try and change it? Your advice sucks Ritchie, it contradicts itself."

A random dude walked by them. "Hey, nice mandibuzz," he said.

"Thanks," Elyan replied. Then he rubbed his chin with his index finger, in a very thoughtful way. An idea was formulating in his mind.

Close by was Serena, still carrying baby cubchoo on her arms. She had a big predicament to resolve, and there seemed to be no clear answer except grueling defeat and humiliation, mainly because, more than anything, she would hate to defraud Ash. However, what else was there? What was she supposed to do when she was about to face a very though opponent and she lacked the pokemon to defeat him?

It came to her, the answer was obvious, another pokemon. And she knew exactly what pokemon had caught her eyes, and exactly where to find it. She ran to the castle. On her way, she passed by Elyan and Ritchie, who were still hanging out outside of the store, now with a very striking group of people surrounding them: two men and a woman. She had no time to stop and say hi, or investigate about the mandibuzz standing on top of Elyan's head, but she did manage to overhear part of their conversation.

"…And then Steel Master Ricky said: hang on, Sammy!" Elyan said. The group erupted in laughter.

"Man, that was funny, you're one funny dude …and that's a cool mandibuzz," Errol said. "Hey, didn't you ask us for an autograph? Here, what's your name?"

"Uh, Agnes," Elyan replied.

"Okay, sure. Here you go Agnes…"

The sun looked brighter than usual for Elyan, Serena had a plan, and Ash was not going to give up on getting his match with Norris. The day went by quickly, and then it was dark out, and it was time for Serena to confront Norris.


	14. The Normal Gym Part 4

She was standing outside the gym, and Ritchie and Carlton and Elyan were there with her, the latter with mandibuzz still on top of his head. For the time being, Ash had failed to convince Norris and they had thrown him out of the gym, and yet, he remained undeterred. In fact, his conviction filled Serena with confidence, and with a healthy dose of anger directed at the gym leader with the bob haircut. The doors of the giant glass cube opened up just for her. The guards at the entrance made that clear. But she didn't falter or had doubts about going in. She was going to get the blank badge for Ash no matter what. Once she was inside the doors closed behind her and she was left in complete darkness. It was almost asphyxiating, and she could only hear the sound of her own breathing to boot.

"Ups! Sorry, my bad," somebody said. And then the lights were turned on, she was on an empty room with a sleepy guard who was scratching the back of his head when she identified him. Something seemed off, but not in an unsettling way, it seemed literally off. There was a door in front of her and it was open, and on the next room there wasn't anyone else. Her steps made abundant echo as she walked, of the kind that only happens when a big place is completely deserted. It seemed like there was a sort of labyrinth element to the gym, there were many doors, all of them open, and as she kept going forward into other rooms, the mirrors embedded on the walls encompassed more and more of the surface. By the last room, the entirety of the walls and the ceiling were made of very clear mirrors, reflecting each other. It was as if there were hundreds of glass rooms, all of them containing hundreds of Serenas within them. The effect was off-putting, and made Serena a bit dizzy. At the very end of the room there was a guy wearing a white leotard with his face uncovered. He was completely focused on his cell phone. Serena called to him and startled him.

"Oh, yeah, the girl! Norris did say you'd come. Sorry, it's after hours for us. It's going to be just you and him, plain and simple… pretty normal if you ask me."

The guy then knocked on the glass, it felt like a ritualistic summoning, when it reality it was the most austere thing possible. Seconds later a different set of steps echoed all over the place. Then, from the same door where Serena came in, a figure shrouded in reflective light appeared, revealing itself to be Norris, wearing the same stained red plaid shirt and ripped jeans.

"Well, well, you showed up after all," he said with a hateful smirk on his face. "It is now or never for that guy's badge. A low-key clandestine affair, as every one of these farces should be. Are you ready to stare at your clearest reflection?"

"Yes," Serena replied, adamantly. "I mean, I'm ready to win."

At that point the guy at the back cleared his throat and then said: "Alright, you know the rules. The challenger can change, the leader can't… just go for it guys."

Serena wasted no time after this. First she called out her newest acquisition, Delibird, red and white, with big round eyes, plump and jolly, eager to fight. Norris's smirk became wider, he looked like a total creep. He called out his pokemon, ditto, pink small blob. The transformation happened immediately and very suddenly, Ditto twisted and squeezed its body, turning into an exact copy of Delibird.

"Hm, my ditto has the special ability of transforming into the opponent as soon as the battle starts. Come on! Show me what you have."

Serena said nothing, she saw an opportunity, which even in the instant rush of the moment seemed cheeky and opportunistic. However, there was no time to think about morality, it was not murky, barely pragmatic, and Ash's first badge was on the line. It seemed so easy to be true. In silence, she called Delibird back and exchanged him for Braixen, yellow furred, and standing decisively in two legs while holding a stick on fire on her hand.

"Braixen! Use flamethrower!" Serena shouted, to Norris's bewilderment. Braixen prepared her attack, showing no mercy. She swung her stick in the air, as if charging it with the power necessary to release it, then she swung the stick again this time right at Ditto-Delibird: a projectile made entirely out of flames was thrown from it right at the impostor, bathing it in fire, consuming it in its entirety. Ditto-delibird was left scorched as it fell to the ground, at which point it turned back into Ditto, and then it went to sleep. It was over.

"What the hell!" Norris cried. "That's not fair! Do-over!"

"No way!" Serena angrily replied. "It was fair, now call out your second pokemon."

"…I only have one."

"So I win?"

"If you call that winning."

"Yay!" Serena jumped from happiness. She went over to Braixen and together they jumped a bit more. "Wait, so it's over, can I have the badge?"

Norris was raging mad, he was visibly pulling his hair out, and his eyes wanted to come out of his eye-sockets.

"Yeah! Here you go, take them." He pulled out a bunch of badges from his pocket. They all looked like round mirrors the size of a bottle cap. He gave them all to Serena. "Here, so you can not only have one for yourself too but also share some with your friends. I couldn't care less if you threw them away!" Norris didn't wait for anything else and stormed out of the room.

As he walked away, Ash, Ritchie and Carlton came in. Serena had her sight set on Ash, although he was first distracted by Norris angrily bumping into him. But when he looked at her, all of the badges but one fell from her hand to the ground, and then she kept her palm open, with the sole tiny mirror on it, facing upwards, as Ash walked towards her, surprised, thoroughly content, and visibly proud. He didn't say anything once he arrived to her, so she just reached her hand over to him and nodded at the badge.

"I should've trusted you more Serena, I was so obsessed with getting my match with Norris that I forgot about pretty much everything else. It seems it's so easy for me to forget."

"Maybe this will help you remember." She waved her hand, prompting Ash to take the badge. When Ash looked at it on her hand it reflected just a tiny little bit of Serena's face on it.

"I won it for you, that was the challenge, so now you get the prize," she said. Ash looked at her once more, then nodded decisively. Then he took the blank badge and raised it triumphantly.

Ritchie had surreptitiously gotten right next to them. He shamelessly lifted one of the badges and showed it to Ash.

"Look Ash," Ritchie said, "I guess today we both got our first badges on this crazy place. First of many huh?"

"You bet."

Serena felt weird about it, and subtly enraged. Ritchie hadn't been part of the challenge. But she didn't say anything. Instead, she herself lifted one of the badges for herself, and felt proud and resolved enough to keep it, as a worthy reminder of what she had accomplished that day.

Outside, Elyan and mandibuzz were waiting for them. Elyan had his arms crossed and a very smug look on his face. Things had certainly changed for him in just one day. He felt like he could go back to his house and personally beat Pryce's ass, but that would have been too easy. Also, he had yet to catch a single pokemon.

"Good job bros, I knew you'd be able to do it," he said as the group came out with the badges. As soon as they did, and the doors of the gym closed behind them, mandibuzz flew away, taking Elyan's blue cap with it. He failed to notice at first, but when he did his semblance immediately changed; he wanted to cry. He ran after the flying pokemon, who quickly gained altitude and speed, but as soon as Elyan reached the sidewalk, he tripped and fell on the ground. And then he could only raise his head and watch as the mandibuzz became a dot on the nightly horizon. Elyan was absolutely crushed, desperately holding on to the pathetic hope that the mandibuzz would somehow return to him. When it didn't happen, Elyan's state didn't ameliorate, and he headed to the police station to figure out a way to solve the hopeless situation.

He ran into the building late at night, stumbling his way to the counter. "Excuse me officer, a mandibuzz stole my hat, I got it just today!"

"Pardon?" the police officer asked.

"A mandibuzz appeared out of nowhere and placed itself at the top of my head this afternoon. Then that was it for a while, I was scared but soon realized everything was fine, and the mandibuzz was an unlikely boost to my confidence. Then it betrayed me and flew away out of nowhere, taking my new cap with it."

"I see, well, do you want to file a report?"

"Don't you have a way to see who's the mandibuzz's trainer, or where it came from?"

"Yeah, sure, let me check the general database."

"Really?"

"No. There's no such thing as a general database, it's an insane idea. Could you imagine if everyone was under surveillance at all times? That would be criminal."

"I don't think so," Elyan replied. "It seems like a pretty good way to check up on people and pokemon, in case something like this happens, you know, an actual criminal act."

"You're crazy kid. I'll file a report, if your cap turns up, I'll notify your parents, now in the meantime you should get some sleep. You know, this reminds me, my neighbor actually had a mandibuzz."

"It's something, can you give me his address?"

"No I cannot, kid, what's wrong with you? I can't just give you someone's address, now that would be criminal."

"I understand, sorry I asked officer."

"It's okay, you're under some stress."

"Thanks, hey, just out of curiosity, where do you live?"

"Oh, just across the street actually… wait! Hold on a minute."

"Thanks officer." Elyan walked out of the station triumphant and satisfied. He then proceeded to canvass the neighborhood, in what had suddenly become a very clandestine personal crusade. He got to the obvious suspect just after a few houses.

"Yes, my husband had a mandibuzz," the woman at the door said. "But he disappeared just a few months ago. His mandibuzz used to leave for undetermined periods of time, just like him, roaming around all over the region. However, this time it's been too long, and he has not communicated with me since."

"I'm so sorry."

"Thank you. I guess Mandibuzz returned for a while, saw that my husband was gone and then left again. It could head to anywhere in the region, I can pay you for the hat if you want."

"No, please, that's okay. It was more of a sentimental thing, but not that much, please don't worry. The hat itself was actually pretty cheap."

"I wonder what my husband has been caught up with. I'm sure he's still alive, he's too resilient to go out like this."

"I'm sorry for wasting your time miss, if I ever find something out about it I'll notify you."

"Likewise, have a good night."

"You too," Elyan finalized, then the woman closed the door. As Elyan headed back to the castle, to the celebration of Serena's victory, he pondered about what he had discovered. The mystery that he started unraveling by chance went a lot deeper than he could've ever imagined. In a day, he had gained a hat and confidence, and in the same day he had lost both. But he was not ready to lose his conviction just yet, countless questions had appeared literally out of nowhere, and still he had not a single pokemon. What he had gained was another objective. He now sought to get his cap back from the mandibuzz.


	15. 12 Hour Days Part 1

Thanks to Serena and her pokemon Ash had obtained his first Gudrut badge; Serena had obtained a new friend, Delibird, and Elyan was fresh out of a hat.

Not only did he not have a hat anymore, Elyan hadn't caught a single pokemon yet. However, he was not ready to give up, in fact he was energized, and resolute on getting back what belonged to him. He was also absolutely ready to prove his many doubters wrong; he was truly motivated, partly because Ash's unending confidence was considerably infectious.

Ash himself was ready to continue his crusade of constant self-improvement first thing in the morning, after a thoroughly enjoyed night of partying on Carlton's castle.

Meanwhile Ritchie from Kanto had other ideas. He had invited himself to stay on Carlton's couch, and they all just let him do it without saying anything about it, because, it's not like he was not welcomed or anything like that, he was a nice guy, if a bit lazy and melancholic; overall, he was fun to be around. He decided to rest and stay in for the day, and tried to convince the also lazy Elyan to accompany him in his pleasant idleness. However Ash and Serena managed to take the redhead with glasses, and no hat, out of the house with them, saving their new friend from the alluring clutches of uneventful mediocrity.

The three of them headed to a park nearby, to train of course, but also with the hope that Elyan would encounter and consequently catch his first pokemon.

They had the best of intentions, and the right spirits to see them through with resounding success, however, things didn't quite go as planned—as they rarely do. Once they arrived at the unrestricted manifestation of nature in the middle of all the concrete, actually one of the biggest and more popular parks on the city, they found the main gates closed to the public, and soon after they discovered the park was closed for the day. Apparently, a movie was being filmed right there, and the filmmakers had obtained the right permits to have that beautiful place all for themselves. Because of this there was a large group of people gathered right outside the main gates, which had a big and muscular fellow at either side of them, quite effectively keeping everyone at bay. The crowd was made out of some film enthusiasts as well as curious folks simply checking the place out.

A small confrontation broke out near the disappointed trio. It was too far to be noticed by the guards, so, intrigued, Ash and company approached to investigate. A tall and buff dude wearing a tight sleeveless shirt, with greasy blond hair styled in a pompadour, pretty out of style, was roughing up a smaller guy, a redhead wearing glasses, and suspenders over his shirt, which was buttoned all the way up—overall, an appropriate target for the yellow-haired thug, at least visually.

Ash couldn't help but notice this latter, unfortunate guy's familiar semblance. In that moment it seemed rather unlikely that someone he knew well could be right there, on that region which was still mostly unknown to him. But after some time staring he realized, that familiar face in fact belonged to his friend Luke from Unova. As such was the case, he rushed to intervene.

"That's right dweeb! This is my viewing spot!" the blond thug said, with his fist raised.

"I just wanted to pass through to get a better view!" Luke protested from the ground. The thug had taken him down.

"Ups! Sorry I got dork o the floor, ha, yeah!" the thug shouted for everyone to hear. "Wait, so you wanted to take my spot after all." His voice was squeaky and abnormally high-pitched. "Do you know how many dweebs I stomped through just to get a glimpse of the craft services table? Three! And one very persistent old lady. Don't worry, I didn't stomp on her, and I was also unable to bully her, and so she got _my_ spot further at the front! But you won't get this spot!"

"Hey! What's going on here?" Ash cried out. His pure and resolute sense of justice was palpable in his voice.

"Ash Ketchum?" Luke exclaimed in disbelief.

"That's right! Good to see you Luke, I didn't know you were visiting Gudrut too."

"Yes, likewise, they have one of the most prolific film industries around, and I wanted to check it out."

"Nothing wrong with that, and yet it seems this guy's bothering you."

"I'm just teaching this dweeb to remember his place!" the thug said. "Listen dweeb, unlike me, you cannot bully people into submitting to what you want, understand!"

"Wait, so you know you're being a bully?" Serena cried out in protest. "This place doesn't belong to you. Everyone has a right to try and get a better view of the craft services table, where the actors working on the film can take a break and get a snack."

"Oh yeah? If that's so, then why can't this dweeb get through me? Oh, I know, because he's a dweeb." The thug then turned to Luke on the ground, and pointed at him. "You'll never be able to demand anything in your life, because you are not strong, like me! So remember that. As for you." He then turned to the angry trio. "You're more than welcome to try and fight me for this dweeb's pathetic honor. Hey, how's it going, the name's Tandy Knox, I go around teaching people to stay in their place. This morning I saw this kid, he looked really excited about this movie they were shooting, so I knew he'd be a great target. And he was!"

"Wait, so you actually meant to bump into him specifically so you could beat him up?" Elyan said. Then he went over to Luke and helped him up.

"Yeah!" Tandy Knox shouted. "And I've succeeded yet again!"

This realization made both Ash and Serena even more angry.

The people around them instinctively left enough space for them, as Ash and Tandy moved to meet each other, both with cautious expressions on their faces, although Ash's was tainted with a layer of righteous anger. Both of them sensed a battle forthcoming.

From one of the pillars on the fence that separated the park from the street, none other than Pikachu sensed his trainer's psychic request. They had been friends for so long that they just knew, regardless of how far they were from each other, when a battle was about to break out. Previously Pikachu was in a rather advantageous position, and was actually able to see some of the actors cruising through the craft services table to get some snacks. The snacks looked really delicious and tempting, meanwhile the actors nearby looked rather angry. But there was no time to speculate about that, Pikachu hurried to meet with Ash, got right in front of him, already in his battle stance, and examined the opponent.

"I can tell you are really passionate about defending dweebs," Tandy Knox said. "Let's see how that ends for you. I'll show you your place, and then I'm going to take your girlfriend out on a date. Hey girl, are you up for some Kantonian food later?" he said directly to Serena.

Serena was in equal parts disgusted by him as she was thankful, for having referred to her as Ash's girlfriend. She was really disgusted by him nonetheless, it showed on her face.

"Let's do this! Elyan, start this match," Ash said.

"Huh," Elyan replied. He was kind of distracted. "What do you mean?"

"Be the referee!"

"Oh, I see… I don't know how."

"It's easy, just start the match."

"Okay, start then," Elyan said, kind of upset.

But before they could start the match, and before Tandy could even throw the pokeball that he was so eagerly swinging on his hand, they were interrupted by the crowd, many of whom not only invaded the impromptu battlefield, but also started pushing the trainers around. Something big had happened, everyone could tell. All of the sudden the gates opened and everyone congested around them, but only a second later they started to be pushed around by the guards, so the people inside could pass through.

Just two guys came out of the park, one basically chasing after the other. The one being chased was wearing a black suit, a very large crimson scarf around his neck, and pitch black sunglasses. His ashy hair was very curly and wild. Meanwhile the one chasing him was smaller and had a rather abundant beard which was mostly black, although it had some gray sprinkled around it; this second guy looked much more disheveled, he was wearing a wrinkled pair of jeans, an old jacket and flannel shirt combo, and a simple blue cap, pretty similar to the one Elyan had lost just a day before. They crossed through what had been the battlefield some moments ago, with a bunch of guards allowing them to cruise freely around in every direction.

"Hey, watch it! My class is in session here!" Tandy Knox shouted at them.

This made the chased guy stop on his tracks. He went over to Tandy at considerable speed, got right in front of him, as close as he could get without touching him, and this showcased their difference in stature—this pretentious looking guy was significantly taller than Tandy.

"What?" the guy with the red scarf around his neck said to Tandy, he practically shouted it. "What did you say?"

"…I …I just said," Tandy stammered, having instantly lost his confidence.

"No, what did you say? That's not what you said. I'm asking you, what did you say?"

"Well… um… I said… Hey, watch i…"

The pretentious guy interrupted him. "Who even are you?"

"Um, my name is Tandy Knox, and I go around places people really seem to care about, to teach them, to sort of stay in their place."

"What? That's the most stupid thing I've heard in my life," the pretentious guy replied. He had a classy foreign accent that was still noticeably exaggerated. He was most likely from Kalos, as Serena could attest after hearing him.

Meanwhile Luke had gotten right next to him, and was utterly astonished and excited by his presence. He knew what the rest of the group ignored, that this pretentious guy was in fact the famed film director Jean-Jackie-Jon-Francois-Luc Truffard, better known artistically as Pitauf.

"Excuse me sir, I'm so sorry, this may not be the best time for this, but I just have to tell you I really love your movies," Luke said. "They've influenced me a lot."

The pretentious guy—Pitauf—turned to the disheveled guy who was chasing him. "Did you hear that?" He asked him in a very vindictive sort of way. "Did you hear that Jeremiah? This guy, loves, my movies. Why do you want to ruin that?"

"Look, Pitauf, I don't want to ruin your track record," the disheveled guy, Jeremiah, who was affectionately referred to as Jerry, said cautiously. "In fact, that's why I'm telling you, please agree to do the re-shoots. Look, we can still salvage this, the script works so let's just power through this. As it stands now though, all we have is unwatchable."

"Excuse me?" Those words genuinely hurt Pitauf, he physically shrieked after hearing that. "How, dare you? You know what! Good luck finishing your movie!"

"Please, don't do this."

"It's done! I should've stayed in Kalos. You can keep your money, and guess what, you think my career is over? No way! This is going to get me so much more indie cred in my country, doesn't matter if I have to keep living in my mom's basement, actually, she just got cable!" Pitauf then turned to Luke, sporting a sarcastic smile full of anger. "Do you like my movies kid? Well guess what, you can have this one, you're the director now."

Pitauf then took off his sunglasses, revealing a ridiculously tiny pair of brown eyes behind them, and put them on Luke, over his regular glasses. He then walked away in frustration, as the disheveled Jerry stared at him with pure sadness in his eyes.

"What am I going to do?" Jerry asked himself out loud. "We have missed three deadlines, we're ten times over-budget, just for an indie drama for crying out loud, and the movie doesn't even have a distributor. It's over, I'm done in this town, all for trusting that overrated clown."

"Don't say that," Ash innocently brought forth. "Everything's going to be okay now that Luke's the director, he's very good, and very passionate about movies, right Luke?"

"Yeah…" Luke said hesitantly.

"Good one kid," Jerry replied, still visibly sad. "Don't ever lose that abysmally blind idealism of yours, there's no point in becoming jaded and cynical if the world won't give it a second's notice, so just keep your optimism, seriously. No, I just need to find someone else really quick, I'll take a terrible movie and a net loss over just a loss."

All of the sudden a tall, beautiful woman with sparkling yellow hair approached Jerry, and touched his shoulder. She seemed very angry, she had just gotten out of the park and made the crowd almost faint from the extreme emotion she got out of them.

"What's going on? Did Pitauf drop out?" she asked Jerry.

"No, I mean yes, but don't worry Emma…"

"Oh my! I knew it was you!" Serena exploded from happiness, she had recognized the famous actress. "I'm a big fan."

"Can you not? Thanks," Emma replied, insufferably. "Pitauf was the only reason I chose to do this garbage, I'm out."

"Wait, no, you can't leave."

"Yes I can, you think my agent will have trouble pulling me out of this trash? It'll be more profitable to rescind my contract than to continue doing this. Just cut your losses and go home Jerry."

Emma then walked away too, and her entourage, which consisted of at least ten women just as tall as her, and some guards, came out of the park and followed after her. She then hopped on a big limousine that appeared to have condensed out of thin air, and left.

"…If Emma is out I'm out too," another guy suddenly said. He was tall, and carefully tanned, and had long, deep black hair and a perpetual smile, with unnaturally whitened teeth always showing.

"Come on Zane, not you too," Jerry lamented. But Zane, another actor, didn't say anything. He just raised his hand, whilst keeping his smile, and walked away, all by himself. Nobody bothered him as he made his way. Not even Serena, who knew of him and was even a fan, because after the deception she had gotten from Emma, she thought it best not to even try. For her, the phrase 'Don't meet your heroes' had become true once again.

"Okay, everything's ruined. Time to take the loss take the loss."

"What are you talking about Jerry? I told you, Luke is a very good director, he's won tons of awards," Ash insisted once more.

"Is that true?"

"I've won two awards, for one of my short films, which was technically bought and officially showed, twice," Luke clarified.

"Oh, man!" Jerry tilted his head to the side and closed his eyes really hard. "What, a… show. It doesn't matter anyway, even if I were willing to hand the reigns of this project to a guy who's not even a member of the director's association…"

"I am a member," Luke clarified again.

"Oh wow! Sorry for assuming otherwise, anyway, even if I'd let you, an unproven first-timer—no offense—take over this movie, I'm still missing the two main actors now. We'll have to shoot everything from scratch, and we only have two weeks! It's over."

"Hold on a second Jerry," Ash said once more. After all Jerry had said, he had not become deterred one bit. Regardless of how unending his idealism was, Ash Ketchum was very gullible and dense. Perhaps that's where his idealism came from anyway. "I have acted in a good number of movies during my lifetime, and Serena has experience in front of the camera too."

"Ash! Don't embarrass me like that!" Serena quickly exclaimed.

"But it's true."

"Is it true?" Jerry asked with despondent interest.

"Not quite, just my pokevision videos," Serena clarified.

"Which are quite popular," Ash continued, angering Serena a bit more. "What? It's true, she's usually in the international top ten most viewed, also, she regularly competes in Master Class Showcases."

"Is he telling the truth?" Jerry asked her directly. Serena blushed, then nodded. "And what about you?" he then asked Ash, with a more upbeat tone.

"He has constantly reached the final stages of the League Championship…" Serena rushed to answer before Ash could even open his mouth "…on numerous competitions, most recently he was the runner-up in the Lumiose Conference."

"Oh, is that so?" Jerry's eyes scintillated. All of the sudden things didn't seem that dour anymore. "Would you please help me finish this movie? It's not much, if you ever wanted a career in show-business this won't really help you, we just have to finish in time and present a rough cut to the investors in two weeks, and then we're done."

"Of course we'll help you Jerry! Right guys?" Ash exclaimed, and both Serena and Luke seconded him, the latter with much, much more enthusiasm.

Both Elyan and Tandy Knox were still there, just watching attentively in silence, quite unsure as to what to do for themselves.

"Wait." Ash remembered his friend. "Can Elyan be part of the movie?"

"At this point, sure he can. What do you say Elyan? Do you like movies?"

Elyan took a moment to ponder about his answer. "To be completely honest with you, not that much, they're too long."

"Well, uh, I don't know what to tell you, but because you're a friend of the talent you can be a production assistant, and I can arrange for you to get paid."

"Sweet, let's do it," Elyan finalized.

The trio went into the park with Luke and Jerry, leaving an astonished Tandy Knox utterly confused and at a complete loss for words. He certainly would've gone with them if they had invited him. And although in reality he had been a complete jerk to them, right after meeting them no less, he still resented them, and saw them as uppity jerks who had totally forgotten about him. He chose to ignore what had happened, although he wasn't very successful, and, after the gates closed with him outside of them, Tandy went to get himself a milkshake to drown his sorrows.

Jerry, who was actually the rather successful film producer Jerry Goldeen—successful at least up to that point—took the entirety of the film crew, a rather small group of people, which now included Ash, Serena, Luke and Elyan, under a big tent, and proceeded to hand a copy of the script with which they were working to each of them.

"Hold on a second, what is this?" As soon as he was handed the light stack of papers, Elyan recognized the title of the project, and it made him furious.

"So, we have a daunting task ahead of us." Jerry chose to ignore Elyan for the moment. He had gotten quite adept at ignoring production assistants. "I know you're tired, I know you're disappointed, and angry, and nobody could blame you, but you have a choice to make. Everyone will know what happened here, everyone will know what you chose to do. So choose wisely, thinking about your future in this business as you do. We'll start over, we'll break this, and most of you will go on to work on something else, what do you say?"

There was a collective, half-spirited acknowledgment of Jerry's words, he was telling the truth. Everyone knew that if they wanted to have a chance to work again they'd at least have to finish the garbage that Pitauf had left them with. When everyone was clearly in agreement, Jerry continued.

"So, just to be clear, we'll do the script justice. Let us not act out of resentment, Pitauf may have left us a mess, but the stuff that he wrote packs a punch. Technically we are remaking an old television show for the big screen."

"I knew it!" Elyan shouted suddenly.

"What's wrong Elyan?" Serena asked.

"You can't remake this, it's perfect as it is, just leave it alone."

"Were you a fan of this show? What is it about?"

"Was I a fan? Of course I was. It's called 'Interlaced Paths,' and it's about this beautiful, very tastefully done love triangle… you know, some people hate love triangles, but those people are idiots, and don't know that some of the best works of literature have them and, and, so… anyway it's about this regular guy named Anthony, who everyone likes, and about these two girls with different personalities, Susan and Mirabelle. Both Susan and Mirabelle like Anthony, and they try their best to win him over and in the end he chooses Susan cause the other one dies in a tragic car accident, in the finale, after like a hundred and forty episodes."

"So, was this a series or a soap opera?"

"Doesn't matter, you can't remake it."

"Well I'm sorry Elyan but we will," Jerry continued. "So, anyway, this is quite different from the show, both tonally and story-wise. Pitauf gave it quite a Kalosian vibe. This adaptation is centered around Susan. It's an alternate retelling and Mirabelle is alive, but is set at a point where Anthony has chosen Susan and they've gotten married…"

"Oh my god!" Elyan cried out indignant, practically offended.

"…Yeah, sorry Elyan. So, we begin when Anthony and Susan's marriage is a bit strained and Mirabelle comes back into their lives, and Anthony starts being swayed by her. Things escalate, Susan feels powerless to change anything, Anthony loses sight of what they had, and she doesn't know how to fix it, and so Susan resorts to killing Mirabelle. As I said, this has a Kalosian vibe to it, so the murder is not moralized, and is instead seen as Susan taking control of her life, and deciding to keep what's hers, to do whatever it takes to accomplish her objectives, even at the expense of the people around her. Pretty artsy stuff."

Elyan was fuming. Perhaps he was not as talented as the rest of his friends seemed to be, but at least he was quite adept at finding sources of fire. He quickly found a lighter and used it to torch the script that he had been handed. He then took the script from the guy holding the boom microphone and set it on fire too. He was quickly restrained and taken out of the premises; thankfully, Elyan didn't put up much opposition, and accepted it pretty quickly.

Serena went to talk to him, to try and calm Elyan down, but it was of no use.

"A lot of people's jobs depend on this Elyan, why don't you let them try something new with it?"

"Interlaced Paths isn't just a tv show, it's a masterpiece that should be handled with care. It's not just about knowing the story, it's about being fully immersed into the lore and strictly following the rules of what a franchise such as this dictates."

"Is it a franchise though?"

"Yes! …I had the lunchbox…" Elyan caught the meaning of his words only after he stopped speaking, and so he forced himself to calm down a bit. "Listen, regardless of how I feel about what you're doing, I know you'll do a great job, so break a leg."

"Thank you so much Elyan!"

"Yes, but also, I won't stop trying to stop it. I will burn the production down if I have to."

"I understand, please don't do anything dangerous though. I'm sorry but I have to go back. The first rehearsal is about to begin, and they're going to hand me my role. Okay bye."

Serena walked back to set as Elyan stared at her from outside the park, through the metal bars of the fence, through which he tried to squeeze his head to go in, unsuccessfully.


	16. 12 Hour Days Part 2

A few hours later, the newly-appointed director Luke called everyone to set, to begin the handing of everyone's roles. Serena had befriended the actress who was first slated to play Mirabelle, a supporting role with a tragic end in this film. Her name was Kaylee, and she was just a few years older than Ash and Serena, so the whole love triangle thing wouldn't seem that weird. And Kaylee would have dropped out just like Emma and Zane did, as doing so wouldn't hurt her career as much as actually acting in the doomed film, seemingly, but that was the thing, she was just starting out, as such, unlike the other two more established performers, she didn't have the luxury to choose yet. Even in that kind of indie film, she'd had to endure almost twenty auditions to actually get the role. Because she was a professional actress, and her future pretty much depended on the final product, Serena knew she'd have to do try her best, for her, and for everyone involved.

"Do you think they'll switch the parts around?" Kaylee nervously told Serena, as they awaited for everyone to gather around Luke so he could begin speaking. "Who do you think will get each role?"

"I'm not sure about all of them," Serena replied, attempting to comfort Kaylee a bit with her tone. "But you should definitely get the lead. You're the professional actress after all."

"Oh, I don't know about that. You're much more famous than me Serena."

"I really don't think so."

"Yes you are, your performance on the Lumiose showcase is practically legendary. I think you should get the lead."

"Nonsense Kaylee, that has nothing to do with it."

"Alright!" Luke shouted.

Serena and Kaylee immediately turned to him as they held each other's hands.

"Serena, you'll play Susan."

Serena gasped, she was almost excited, although at the same time she almost hated having obtained the lead, mainly because she didn't want to upset her new friend.

"Congratulations!" Kaylee blurted out right after. Then she turned to Serena and gave her a wide smile, which was heartbreaking, at the same time her soul practically poured out of her eyes.

"Ash will play Anthony. Everyone else will keep the roles they had. Kaylee of course will continue as Mirabelle."

"That's okay," Kaylee said, still smiling. "I mean that's the central character if you think about it. Her death is the focal point of the movie."

"Yeah, of course," Serena said kindly.

"Hmm," Kaylee nodded, and forced herself to believe what she had said.

Then the rehearsals started. They didn't have a lot of time to practice or to learn their lines. Thankfully, Luke was well-versed in the craft, and had researched the numerous techniques which the greats, including—the perhaps not so great—Pitauf, utilized to get by when resources were limited. In the end they resorted to film in chronological order, and to rehearse the scenes as they came up on the script, even if that constituted changing the original location of the scenes, and such.

Just a couple of hours later they were ready to resume filming. By this point nobody had high hopes for the project, in fact they didn't care about the unorthodox methods they had had to resort to; that said, at least the crew was professional enough to do an okay job.

Serena was sitting on a bench by the lake, deep within the park. The make-up artists had done a great job making her look older than she really was, although she didn't look any less attractive. Her blue eyes were particularly striking right about then. She was wearing a light-brown coat, and her hair was charmingly unkempt; she was already in character, and so she had a somber look on her face. She wasn't messing around.

Luke—also with a heavy countenance upon him, fully focused—positioned himself right next to his first cameraman, and shouted "Action!" in a very serious and decisive way. Kaylee in character as Mirabelle then walked into frame, she was holding her chin quite high up, and had a rather indignant expression on her face.

"I don't like being followed," Mirabelle said, in a very austere tone.

"What makes you think I'm following you?" Serena—Susan, replied, diverting her eyes from Mirabelle.

"Please, at least pretend you're serious about this."

Susan turned at her incensed, Mirabelle knew exactly what she had done to Susan.

"Believe me, I'm serious about this. I don't think you can comprehend what this means to me."

"I didn't come here to be lectured by you."

"Why did you come here for?" Susan said, at the same time she pierced through Mirabelle's psyche with her eyes. All of the sudden Mirabelle's face was devoid of expression, however, she did not cut eye contact with Susan.

"Mirabelle, it's over," Susan continued.

"Apparently Anthony doesn't feel the same way."

"What?" Susan screamed, her voice came out of her with unbridled violence. "It doesn't matter. Mirabelle, A… nthony chose me, he's married, to me."

"That's all you have to cling to," Mirabelle said, looking straight down at Serena, I mean, Susan.

At this Susan exploded internally. She raised from the bench, startling not only Mirabelle, but the whole crew behind the camera as well. Mirabelle backed away, however, she composed herself and garnered enough courage to stand up to Susan, and got in front of her.

"It's all I need," Susan said. "Make no mistake, I thought you capable of many things, even of this. But I won't let you interfere with _my_ life."

"I didn't get a fair chance."

"And I'm really sorry that you're having trouble letting go of that. You know what, I'm really sorry for you," Susan said with an aggressively pitiful tone, looking straight at Mirabelle.

"You think you're _so_ strong, don't you?" Mirabelle challenged her with a more subdued, more poisonous tone. "I know you. Never forget that I know who you are. It doesn't matter how much time has passed, how much things have changed. You are still the same weak, insecure, pathetic, fragile little doll who's scared of saying a single word. You don't deserve the life you have; you did nothing to earn it. You thought that crying all the time, and dreaming in silence, and blushing ineffectually would be enough? No. I know you, and I know that whatever happens, it's out of your control. Remember that."

Mirabelle turned around with a triumphant smirk full of spite on her face. She began to walk away, however Susan violently grabbed her by the arm, and stopped her from leaving. Mirabelle was not scared one bit.

"If you're going to do something, do it now," Mirabelle said. The atmosphere felt excruciatingly tense. There was no turning back for either of them, no chance whatsoever for a reconciliation. "I know you won't do anything, let go of me now." Susan stayed put, silent, and breathing heavily. "Let go!" Mirabelle shouted very suddenly and with a very aggressive tone, which made Susan shriek and recoil away from her. All of the sudden Mirabelle turned to stare right at Susan, who couldn't help but be overwhelmed by her, and so she looked away, and backed away even more without being able to say one thing. Mirabelle laughed cruelly, and delighted herself a little bit more with the view of the frightened creature in front of her, whom she despised so much. A few seconds later, she walked away unceremoniously and Susan lowered her shoulders, at the same time the rage came back to her, and she stared furiously at the back of her enemy, who then exited frame.

"Cut!" Luke shouted. It seemed as if he was not only finalizing the scene but also cutting the asphyxiating tension that the performers had brought upon the set with their virtuoso intensity. After a beat, the crew clapped with genuine enthusiasm for a little bit, as Serena and Kaylee smiled at each other and consequently hugged.

At Luke's command the production immediately moved on to prepare the next scene. His director voice was rather effective, and it didn't hurt that the production was under heavy time constraints, so they worked extra hard to get everything ready quickly.

The next scene would take place in a built-in set that looked just like the inside of a coffee shop, when looked at from the right angle. It would be Sere- Susan's first confrontation with Ash in character as Anthony, after he apparently met with Mirabelle without telling her.

They were sitting at a table, sullenly facing each other. Meanwhile the background actors moved around them imperceptibly. Susan was staring right at Anthony, with a fury that could've compelled him to react—which is what she wanted—if he were looking at her. But Anthony couldn't look at her, he had his sight rigidly motioned to the ground, and wasn't blinking at all.

"Say anything, anything at all," Susan said. "I'm your wife, does that mean anything to you? Pretend I'm someone else and speak… What is your problem? God! Do I have to hit you to make you feel anything?"

"Susan!" Anthony exclaimed in a robotic fashion, and with too much volume for the moment. Ash's delivery was so bad that Serena was taken out of her character, and she directed a fleeting look off camera, at the director.

"Cut!" yelled Luke. Then he went over to Ash, and knelt right next to his seat.

"Is everything okay?"

"Of course Luke, you're doing a great job," Ash said innocently, the poor chap.

"Thanks, listen. Remember, you're at a public place, so you're having a quiet argument, which is still very intense, but quiet. Also, you're tired, you're tired of people, you're tired of life at this point. Your wife doesn't seem to understand, you're looking for something but you don't know what it is and if you don't find it soon you feel like you will die, get it? Alright, we're going again, Serena, you're doing a great job keep doing what you're doing."

After hearing Luke's speech, Ash took a deep breath and got ready to act the crap out of the scene. Luke went behind the camera and yelled action once more. Once more Serena crushed it, and Ash's delivery was exactly the same, to the point that this second take was basically the same as the first one.

Luke yelled cut, stone faced. Then he took off his headphones and went to talk to Jerry the producer, who was close by.

"This dude is killing me," Luke said quietly. "Look, I'm trying. I'm doing the best with what we've got, but that," he pointed at Ash, "that's going to destroy any chance we had to salvage this."

"I know," Jerry replied solemnly, "but don't worry, it's not my first time dealing with trainers turned actors. They think that because they are famous and successful they can do anything, but they can't act, and everyone can tell. They are still famous and successful though, and hiring them as stars is an effective stunt. Again, don't worry, I have an idea."

Jerry walked over to Ash, and consequently asked him to go and get the coffee for the whole crew, with only Pikachu helping him. Ash immediately agreed and went for it with gusto; it took him five separate trips to the coffee shop. So by the end he was thoroughly exhausted, which was the whole point of the stunt. The make-up people got him ready and sat him on the chair, he looked much more gloomy than before, and for this, and for the whole thing, Serena was firmly displeased, and so she went to talk to Luke.

"Hey Luke, why did you make Ash do that?"

"Did you see his acting? We're doing him a favor, trust me."

"But you didn't need to do all that. I don't think I'm okay with this."

"Easy for you to say that, you're a great actress, and don't need to go to such extreme measures. Sadly some others do. Now go back and do the scene please." Serena opened her mouth, she wasn't completely satisfied by Luke's answer. But he beat her to the punch. "Just do the scene, come on, we'll talk later."

And so Serena kept her reservations to herself and went back to the table, all the while the assistants were still cleaning sweat off of Ash's forehead. Serena took a deep breath and closed her eyes as the assistant unit director yelled at everyone to be quiet. Then Luke yelled action, and she was instantly on, and the scene continued, much more effectively this time around.

"…Who are you? Yes, you've changed," Susan said. "But do you think that just because you're not the same person you were when we got married, that gives you the right to forget your vows? For a long time I have done what you've asked, I've followed you were you've gone, and the only thing I've asked of you was to fulfill the promises you made to me. If you wanted to give up… God! Do you know how horrible that sounds? If you wanted to give up, you shouldn't have said yes, while you looked into my eyes no less! You shouldn't have taken me as your woman, but you did. And I've let you do a lot of things to me, but this is one thing I'll do for myself. You're not going anywhere without me… So please, just tell me, what do you want?"

"I want to rest," Anthony said sullenly, tired of life. "I'm so tired, I'm so tired of looking for something I'll never obtain, I'm so tired of feeling like I can't give you what you want. I need to rest."

"You can rest all you want in our bed."

Anthony let out a deep exhalation, which contained a myriad of impotent thoughts within it.

After the director yelled cut Serena felt particularly uneasy. Most of the crew gathered to gush about her, even Kaylee, from whom she had felt a slightly weird vibe previously. Serena and Luke had clearly revitalized the production, and everyone was thankful their careers might be saved for it. For this Serena was happy, and thankful too, that said, she still felt uneasy.

Meanwhile Ash saw nothing wrong with what happened, he was too good of a person to notice that more subtle kind of mean gestures, like the one Luke and Jerry had thrown at him, and the worst part was that nobody else seemed to care about it.

Serena left the set and went outside to get some air, and found Elyan outside the studio, being denied entrance by the guards at the front.

"I see you haven't burned down the production," she said.

"Not yet," Elyan replied, and then instantly regretted what he said. "I'm just kidding, I won't burn anything down. Did everyone hear? …people don't like it when you say you're going to set a building on fire. Anyway, how's everything going in there?"

"Mostly great. It's just, I don't think they are treating Ash very well, and just because he's not that good of an actor. I think he's great, he doesn't need to be anyone other than himself, and besides, he's good at so many things you can't expect him to be good at everything."

"That's show-business for you. If they want something done they'll do everything they in their power to get it just they way they want it, ignoring what the rest wants. They can take whatever they want and do whatever they want with it, I think."

Serena pondered long and hard about this.

"For example, they think that just because they have a lot of money and lawyers and overall a lot of power, they can just take any series I love and remake it and ruin it. And they might be able to do that, sure, but, but, I'm going to start a protest, and I'll get the rights to Interlaced Paths and remake it the way it should be."

"What do you mean?"

"I know exactly how a remake of Interlaced Paths should be, and it's not what you're doing, no offense. I want to update it in the right, mature way which will pay proper respects to the series."

"Huh, what was that?"

"Okay, I'll tell you," Elyan said, very excited. "Fade in, Anthony and Susan have miraculously saved Mirabelle from the car accident that killed her in the original show. However, afterwards they still cannot come to terms regarding who should be with Anthony, so both Susan and Mirabelle seemingly agree to date him at the same time. They lure him to one of their houses, but then right before he can kiss either one of them, they tie him up and then chastise him for not being able to make up his mind. Then they rough him up a little bit, and then the real adventure begins. Susan and Mirabelle embark on a roadtrip across the country and have adventures away from Anthony, becoming best friends in the process, almost like sisters, and becoming liberated from him and in general. They also talk about Anthony and about how he wasn't that great, and sure, there may be a kiss or two between them but that's not the point. And they also send photographs they take during their trip to Anthony, with written letters behind them, telling him how they are really free and liberated, and how they've kissed each other a bit, because that's what's it about, about freedom."

"Wow." Serena forced herself to speak, she was a bit taken aback. "I didn't know you cared so much about this Elyan. That said, why do Susan and Mirabelle have to tie Anthony up and rough him up a bit, and send a bunch of letters to him, just to prove that they are free? If they are free then they shouldn't care that much about him, certainly not enough to send him a bunch of letters. If they are doing it just to spite him then it isn't really such a liberating message, is it?"

"Well, uh, what do you know, you haven't even watched the show."

"I guess you're right, anyway Elyan I have to go back. They are moving production again, there's still time for another scene."

Serena waved at Elyan as she walked away.

"Sure, no problem. Try to have fun while you can, because soon you'll all be working on my version, the right version," Elyan finalized, then he was forced to leave.

The next day production continued very early in the morning. Everyone was ready, Ash was already on set, however Serena was nowhere to be found. Luke asked the assistants about it and was promptly told that she was still in her trailer, so he personally went to get her.

Serena had the best trailer, the one Emma had left behind, appropriate for the star of the film. It was bigger than a studio apartment, and had all the necessary amenities, and then some. Luke walked right up to the white metal door and knocked moderately.

"Serena, we are ready for you on set."

"I'm not coming out!" Serena popped her head on the small window next to the door, without opening it.

"Why not?"

"I'll come out only if you promise to treat Ash better."

"What? The guy's a terrible actor, I'm just trying to help him."

"He's your friend!"

"That's right, he is my friend, and I want to get the best out of him, for his sake, and for everyone else's. So why don't you do him a favor and come to set."

"…No, you haven't promised."

"Fine, I promise."

"I don't believe you."

"…Say, you do know which scene we're filming next, right? …The love scene."

Serena said nothing, but her heart skipped a beat.

"Heavily revised, accordingly, but it is still _the_ love scene."

Just a moment later the door opened, and a dignified Serena came out with her head held high.

"I guess they do need me on set, and you have promised to treat Ash better, haven't you?"

"Of course," Luke said with a high-pitched tone. Then he led her to set.

"Talent's on set!" the assistant shouted. Preparations began and everybody took their positions.

Anthony was supposed to be making coffee in the kitchen, when he was to be confronted by Susan.

"Alright Ash, remember, you _need_ to be sad, understand?" Luke said to Ash. "Let's rehearse this a bit, don't start rolling yet. At this point, you're tired of not knowing what you want, okay? Serena, please begin the scene."

And Serena began the scene, however, once again, and as it had happened many times since they started filming, Ash was just too happy to be alive, and it showed on his acting skills, or rather, on his lack thereof.

Luke walked over to him once more, with a heavy countenance upon him.

"Look, I'm going to get real with you Ash, the studio is keeping you here, not me. Apparently, no one else wants this job, because no one believes this will be good, and I don't blame them for thinking that… You know, if I remember correctly, when we were in Unova; there's this guy named Cameron, do you remember Cameron?"

"Of course! He's a good friend of mine." Ash replied enthusiastically.

"Yes, you encountered him on the Unova League finals. He almost didn't get in, because he overslept. If it weren't for you dragging him to the registration stand and begging Nurse Joy to let him in, he wouldn't have been able to compete, and he wouldn't have defeated you. How does that make you feel?"

"I'm glad he was able to get in, our match was amazing."

"Yes, his riolu evolved in the middle of the match, is that right? Yes, and if that hadn't happened, you would've won, and who knows, if it weren't for him, you may have just become the champion."

"Well yes but it's okay," Ash said, trying to keep his smile.

"Really? I mean, if I had lost in those kind of circumstances I would've felt really bad. It is because of you that he was able to compete, and he thanked you by taking you out of the competition."

"It is definitely okay, and we have moved on, right Pikachu?"

"Pikachu's at the craft services table, and he just told me that he feels really sad about it."

"No he didn't." Ash was beginning to crack.

"Yes he did, but it's okay," Luke dastardly continued. "It's okay to be sad sometimes, I bet you've never really stopped to think about what kind of opportunity you wasted by helping Cameron."

"Um, can we do the scene now?" Ash asked with a pleading tone.

"Yeah, let's just do the scene," Serena said, in a more openly hateful way, staring straight at Luke.

"Alright, let's reset." Luke touched Ash's shoulder. "How are you buddy, everything okay?"

"No, I don't know."

"Good," Luke replied, then he went behind the camera.

"Don't let him treat you like that Ash," Serena said to him.

"Like what?" Ash replied. As Serena suspected, he just didn't understand he was being bullied.

"Action!" Luke shouted.

Anthony was on the verge of tears. He grabbed the mug he had set on the table and played with it as he kept himself from crying. Susan went over to him and gave him a hug, which he rejected.

"You always do this," she said. "When everything is okay, when everyone is happy, you don't mind sharing even the last drop of joy. But when things are bad you disappear, it's like you're not there. You don't have to do this alone. A… nthony, look at me."

Susan stroked Anthony's remarkably soft and warm cheek, but he moved away. Susan didn't like that, she grabbed his jaw forcefully and made him face her with a sudden move, by which Anthony was too startled to react.

"You think I don't care about you? I'm doing this for myself as much as I am doing it for you, because I know what's better for you, because I know how good I am for you. But understand, I care about you more than anything else in the world, so tell me, have you found out what you want?"

"I don't know, S… I don't know anything."

"Yes you do, tell me, what do you want?"

"I want… I want… to live."

"I'm right here."

Susan moved closer to Anthony, he could feel the warmth emanating from her. Being so close to her body felt so soothing, so alleviating, that Anthony couldn't help but feel guilty, for accepting her comfort without giving anything in return. But he was too tired to withstand the temptation. Anthony desperately held on to her, and couldn't help but kneel down as he put his arms around her and pressed her waist very tightly, as his head was basically stuck to her belly. She grabbed his cheeks, handling them as if they were made out of the most fragile glass, moved closer to him, and softly led his face toward hers. And then she kissed him. She kissed him and kept kissing him.


	17. 12 Hour Days Part 3

"Feel, don't think!" Luke shouted from behind the camera.

And so Susan kept kissing Anthony—so Serena kept kissing Ash—forcefully, and filled with passion, from above, without letting go of his face; and he became numb at the same time she only kissed him more intensely.

"I'll protect you," Susan said, as she paused the kiss to recover her breath. "I'll never let anybody hurt your gentle soul."

The people from behind the camera were a bit confused by this, as that line wasn't in the script. That said, none of them cared, as it felt right, just right, and they too were really in the moment.

"… Because I care," Susan continued, "I care and I'll never give up on you, on this, on anything that's good."

She finally let go of him. Ash was frozen, with both his eyes and his mouth wide open. Perhaps it was a good thing because that way he wouldn't be able to ruin the scene.

Luke yelled cut. The crew broke into thunderous applause. Jerry and him both went to congratulate the main couple.

"Hey guys, fantastic job. You just saved my whole career, I think," Jerry said. "I just want to make sure that you're comfortable with the choices we've made."

Serena blushed, she couldn't look at anyone in the eye. She touched her lips with the tip of her fingers and lowered her head. Then she forced herself to speak.

"Of course, you guys have made the set a very safe space," she said. "I just trusted the director one hundred percent."

"Okay great. Seriously you guys are great, I, feel, great about this! Honestly I'm going to start shopping this thing around right now, keep it up!"

Jerry left, Ash was still frozen, he didn't know what to think of what had happened, however, he also felt very hungry right about then, and that feeling overrode every other sensation. Furthermore, he was very keen on speaking with Pikachu again.

"So I'm glad we've come to an understanding," Luke said to Serena, taking her out of her very pleasant reverie.

She looked at him strangely, she was a bit surprised by it. Luke had promised to treat Ash better, and yet he had made him feel terrible, even worse than before.

Without saying anything Luke turned around and left.

And Serena couldn't speak with anyone, not even with Ash. What's more, she knew she had to do something, but she didn't know exactly what. To begin, she went to get some air again.

Outside the set she met with Elyan again. Now he was holding two signs, one on each hand. One had the image of Mirabelle and the other one had Susan, both from the original show.

"Stop this nonsense, right? Oh hey it's you Serena, I mean don't stop it, I know you're working very hard, but also do stop it, please," he said. "By the way I'm trying a new thing to help my protest generate more traction. It hasn't worked so far so it's still just me, but I think it'll work. Hey, are you a Mirabelle, or a Susan."

Serena was still a bit distraught from what had happened. She wanted to focus on the good things, but the bad things didn't let her, and so she didn't have the best disposition to humor Elyan; so she walked away from him.

"Mirabelle or Susan!" Elyan shouted at her back. "…You're a Susan! I knew it."

Days went by, filming continued, the general tone did not change, all the way to the last day of shooting, when Serena once more refused to come out of her trailer.

"We're ready for you," Luke said, after banging loudly on her door. "Everyone on set is like, Serena's killing it in her role, she's going places."

"That's so nice, everyone that's there now is amazing," she said from inside

"So are you gonna come out?"

"I'm not coming out of my trailer until your dignity and humanity come out of yours."

"Ouch, ha ha, no but seriously, we need you out there. Please come out and do the scene… the last scene, of the whole film."

"You've been lying to me all this time, you said you'd treat Ash better."

"Have you seen him? He's gotten so much better with my direction, everyone says so. He'll end up thanking me for what I did for him."

"Are you serious? You don't even feel guilty for it."

"Why should I? I'm getting the best I can out of him. Just come out, it's the last day."

"Never."

"Please!" Luke pleaded, in a rather genuine way. He was more than willing to beg at that point. "Look, I know we're not on the best terms right now. I lied to you, and I've been mean to my friend. I haven't forgotten that Ash helped me get this job even, but you have to understand, nobody believes in me, nobody cares about this. This is my only shot at getting a break. Do you know how hard it is to get an opportunity like this? It's a once in a lifetime, one in a million. And at the very least I need to be sure that I'm doing the best I can, and if that includes me being a jerk, and bullying my friends, I'll do it. Because, mind you, I know I'm not acting like a good person, but maybe, sometimes, you need to bully people to get what you want. Maybe it's the only way to get what you want. I know that sounds awful, but please, I need you, I promise I won't bully Ash anymore, you have my word, it's the last day, and we're so close. Come on, I know you're not unreasonable."

Luke was not a great public speaker, nor very articulate in private, but knowing that a whole career was on the line really got the words out of him. And Serena appreciated how at least he was being honest, or rather he seemed to be, so she finally relented and came out, although she made him promise again that he'd stop bullying Ash.

And so they got ready to film the last scene. It would take place on the married couple's bedroom. Anthony would discover that his wife had killed Mirabelle, and would confront her about it during a cold night of winter.

Ash psyched himself up with particular endeavor, he knew very well how important that scene was for the whole movie. And he wanted to do a good job for the whole crew and for Serena, whom he recognized had much more acting talent than him. At the same time, he also wanted to do a good job for himself, for having worked so hard so far.

Serena walked into the set, she genuinely looked like she had just killed a person, and on that moment Ash surprisingly found that he was a bit scared to confront her, and so he didn't speak to her before the scene began.

Luke yelled action.

"I can't believe you took it this far," Ash fully immersed into Anthony shouted with enough eminence.

"I had to, I owed it to myself," Serena replied, exhibiting no regret whatsoever.

Both of them were deep into it. Their performances fed off each so well and with so much energy that all those who were watching became entranced by them, and their humors went with the flow that the actors dictated.

"I would've stayed with you, no matter what," Anthony exclaimed.

"Do you really believe that?" Susan parried. "It's a serious question, I mean it, think about it. Would you have stayed with me?"

"So it is true!"

"That's right."

"I can't believe you killed her, right Pikachu? …Oh! I'm so sorry guys, my bad." Ash instantly killed the mood, and ruined a potentially brilliant take, again.

"Cut!" yelled Luke. Then he went over to Ash. "You did it again."

"I know, I'm sorry, I got it."

"Of course you do… and look, I don't want to distract you but maybe it's got something to do with the fact that Pikachu's gone."

"What?"

"He left, he said he didn't want to be with you anymore."

"That's not true, he would never do that. Why would he?"

"I don't know, you tell me, you knew him better than I did, but he's gone now." Luke was lying. Perhaps he had his reasons. But in reality, Pikachu was pleasantly sleeping beneath the craft services table, where he mostly lingered during the filming. That final day of shooting he was too exhausted from all the eating that he was unable to feel the psychic connection with his trainer. He had actually packed quite a bit of weight. And in reality, Ash was still not a good actor, and was getting progressively more excited and dropping out of character the more he went along, until he blurted out the thing about Pikachu. So, at the very least, Luke felt like he had to do something else, and so he started bothering Ash again. "Pikachu's gone, you're sad and you need to focus on this. You're going way to high buddy."

"Can we just do this?" Serena interjected angrily. She was done with Luke. "Can we just take it line by line? It's very difficult to do this when you're just barging in to bully us, and you tell us 'do this, you feel this way, do this! Change this!' It's impossible. You're doing one thing, he's doing another, I'm doing another." Then she pointed at Larry the boom guy, who was recording their lines. "I don't even know what he's doing. Look, I can't keep up with what you're doing. I guess I'm not as brilliant as you."

"I think we're being very proficient."

"What did you say? Did you say efficient."

"I said proficient, but we're being very efficient too. Can we just take the shot?"

"Yes of course we can! I don't get you Luke, it wouldn't be the first time."

"I'm trying to help you. I don't need you to see me as a collaborator, though I do want to collaborate. I'm just trying to do my freaking job."

"Guys, let's relax," Ash interjected. At this, and knowing that he was the source of most of his problems, Luke went off.

"Jeez, You have no idea how close you were to ruining this invaluable chance for me. I've been working on this thing for three weeks! Do you understand me?"

"What do you want from me?" Ash cried out, visibly distressed.

"I'm going back to my trailer," Serena said, then turned around and started walking away. She was stopped by Luke, who grabbed her by the elbow and stopped her on her track.

"No you're not, you're finishing the scene."

"Yeah right."

"Look, if you don't do the scene, I'll… I'll get a weapon."

"Oh yeah? And what are you going to do? Jeez, we need to get insurance against the director. Do you hate this movie? Cause you're ruining it yourself.

"You're a freaking grown up!" Luke shouted.

"No I'm not," Serena coolly replied.

"Then act like one."

"I said I'm not."

"Well act like one! …Alright, let's take five minutes. Ash, you stay there, and stay sad."

Serena left the set and sprinted back to her trailer. Luke ran after her, and held the door as she tried to close it on his face.

"I don't want to talk to you!"

"Listen, I'm not going to pretend like we're okay."

"We're not! And I won't finish the movie."

"Yes you will."

"No I won't, I don't care what you do."

Luke held on to the door, and stared right at Serena, with a rather serene expression, for a couple of seconds; more like three.

"If you don't do the scene right now, I'll walk up to Ash, and I'll tell him how you feel about him."

Serena's eyes opened wide, she couldn't believe what Luke had said.

"You wouldn't do that."

"Oh, but I would. Why are you so afraid of it? You've already kissed him, in fact I'd say you've already tried to eat his tongue, so what's stopping you anyway?"

Serena paused, and waited for enough time to pass so that her serious answer had the right cadence and was effective enough. Then she spoke.

"He has a clear objective, and I don't want to bother him with any distractions."

"Ah, you don't want to distract him?"

"That's right, I'm happy with the way things are for now."

"I see, so what if I go and ruin that, right now?"

"…You're a terrible person Luke."

"I'm a film director."

"I'll do it, just so I don't have to see you anymore."

"Perfect."

Begrudgingly, Serena walked back to the set. The scene was reset and they continued filming. She hid her anger really well. In fact, it was as if she magically transmitted it to Ash, who delivered a powerful performance, perhaps because of Luke's stressful tactics.

And so they carried on filming, as Anthony, and Susan, the murderer.

"I don't think I can take this," Anthony said. "I could've lived the rest of my life with you, I would've forced myself to uphold the vows I made to you, but this is too much."

"No, you won't leave."

"Why wouldn't I?"

Susan led her hand to her belly and caressed it softly.

"You said you wanted to live… You wanted to live so much, you couldn't help but fill me with life."

"No…"

"Yes, I can feel it, and so can you. We're one and the same. I'll give you another chance. Don't say no. Don't you dare say no again… I'm going to have your baby. Do this with me. I'll be nice, I'll do good by everything I promised, to you. You won't regret it."

Anthony got close to her. Something about her disgusted him, but at the same time he couldn't help but be attracted to her. And so he hugged her, and held her tightly, and then fell on his knees, and she grabbed his head, and held him. And kept him.

"Cut! That's a wrap!" Luke shouted triumphantly.

Serena ignored him, she didn't want to speak to him ever again. She just wanted to comfort Ash, and tell him that everything was going to be alright. Meanwhile the crew clapped louder than ever before, and then one by one they went over to congratulate Serena and Ash.

"You were magnificent Serena," Jerry said, "You've saved the careers of most of us, and will help your friend Luke's own career. Listen, you're seriously talented. I can seriously get you a contract, and the best agent for someone your age. She's seriously the best, only three of her teen clients have ended up in jail."

"Thank you very much for the offer, but I don't think that's what I want, or at least not right now."

"Well you helped us a lot, so the offer will always be there."

"Thanks, you're very nice, considering the business you're in."

"Thank you, but I'm only nice when I can be."

Serena pondered a little bit about this, as the sun went down.

Meanwhile, outside the studio, Elyan had gathered a passionate crowd, which consisted of himself, as well as none other than Tandy Knox, and only them.

"Okay, so, I think we're ready to go radical," Elyan said. "All we can do now is storm the studio and take the freaking movie, and burn it."

"That's right!" Tandy shouted enthusiastically. "We'll show them."

"Indeed. We'll show those bullies that you can't just walk over people and expect them to stay down. Oh, they want it their way? Guess what, we want it our way."

"Yeah!"

"And if we have to stomp through them to get it, we'll do it!"

Tandy Knox shouted enthusiastically once more; he was genuinely pumped.

Soon afterwards Ash and Serena walked out of the studio, the former carrying a sleeping Pikachu, quite ballooned up, in his arms.

"Oh! Did we make it? Did our protest work?" Elyan asked naively.

"Sorry Elyan, no. Production wrapped. They'll go ahead and begin post-production now," Serena replied softly, trying to let Elyan down gently.

He still took it pretty hard. And so did Tandy Knox. In fact he got so sad that he couldn't help but sit down on the sidewalk.

"Man, another disappointment," Tandy said, then he let his head down, thus shedding his emotional barriers. "You know, I initially started going around and teaching people to stay on their place, because people are mean, and no matter what they do, they always end up hurting others, mostly to get what they want."

"I don't know man, maybe sometimes you have to hurt others to get what you want," Elyan added. "But is it really worth it?"

"I guess it depends on the person," Serena said. "It depends of how much they want it, what ways they are willing to use to get it, and how important it is for them. For me, I know what's important for me, and the last thing I want is to hurt… others. I want to protect… others."

She touched Ash's shoulder. He was glad they were able to help Jerry and company, and was sure they had done a pretty good job. As such, he thought he should've felt accomplished and satisfied, however he just felt a bid sad, and he didn't know why.

"Don't worry Ash, Luke was joking. Pikachu loves you, he always has, and he doesn't have any regrets. You can tell."

Ash's face adorably lit up, and his mood changed just as suddenly.

"Now let's go get some food."


End file.
